


I'm Not Crazy

by VeeVeeLa



Category: South Park
Genre: AU, Blood and Gore, M/M, Mystery, Supernatural - Freeform, Suspense, depictions of mental illness, psychiatric hospital
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-02-02 21:33:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12734721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeeVeeLa/pseuds/VeeVeeLa
Summary: Butters has been dropped off at the psychiatric center, for seemingly no reason, by his parents. He doesn't think there's anything wrong with him but...why is he there then? There's also this crazy guy named Kenny that comes to visit every other day, so that's great isn't it?





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> I've posted this before somewhere else and now I'm posting this here because I'm wanting to start this up again. If people like it enough, that is.
> 
> Just a warning before we start: Some things in this story may be inaccurate. I'm not all that familiar with psych wards and I'm not naming specific illnesses for a reason. I'm leaving it up to context clues. You may have suspend your disbelief a little bit.
> 
> This was all written spontaneously and without planning. Despite that, this story does have a direction. I hope you will enjoy this regardless.
> 
> Thank you.

Butters stared out of the car window as his parents drove him down the highway. He knew where he was going, he didn't like it at all. His parents insisted that he needed to go there, to get better. He didn't think there was anything wrong with him though. He felt absolutely fine, and yet…his parents wanted to take him there. They insisted that he would receive the utmost care, but he knew why they wanted to take him there. They didn't want him. Although he loved his parents (Linda and Stephen Stotch) very much, he felt as though they didn't really want him all that much. Which was understandable as he wasn't a very good kid. He was being grounded all the time because he acted up all the time. Why, just the other day, his dad had gotten sore at him for arranging the dinner table wrong. If only he wasn't so bad…

"We're here, pumpkin." His mother informed him.

He looked ahead and saw that they had parked already. His parents both got out while he took another few seconds to compose himself. He breathed in slowly and then outward to try and calm his nerves. When he got out of the car, he looked up to the massive building simply called: Hell's Pass Psychiatric Center. It was an older building built of bricks with ivy walls and a large fountain up front, which didn't look to be in use. A parking lot in front of the center stretched along the length of it. Their car was currently parked in the front nearest to the door. When Butters got out and looked to the ground, he found the space was for the disabled. He didn't say anything about it though.

"Butters, come on. We're going in. Quit standing around." He heard his father say. Butters looked up to see his dad staring at him sternly from the other side of the car.

"Ah-ok. S-Sorry!" Butters apologized and ran around to where his father was.

"We don't want to waste time. Your mother and I have somewhere to be. We'll sign you in and then we have to leave." His father said to him. They started walking toward the door where his mother was waiting.

"Y-you don't want to stay?" Butters wanted his parents to stay at least for a little while. At least until he was situated.

"No. Like I said Butters, your mother and I have somewhere to be."

"Oh, ok. That's fine I guess." Butters frowned and started to rub his knuckles together.

"Butters, stop slouching." His father reprimanded him. Butters immediately straightened his back.

"Y-yes sir. Sorry sir." Butters followed his father through the door to the front lobby of the center. His mother followed behind him.

His father went straight to the front desk and asked the secretary about signing Butters in. His parents had already made the necessary steps to ensure that Butters gets into the center as quickly as possible the moment they stepped foot into the building. This time has been long coming since his parents started planning weeks beforehand to drop him off here. In fact, they had already moved his clothes into what was going to be his room the day before he got there.

While his dad was signing him in, he looked around at the main lobby. It was a little larger than he had imagined. It was an elongated room with large windows in the front looking over the parking lot. There were couches and chair arranged similarly on each side of the lobby with stacks of magazines on the table. Toward the desk was a long and wide hallway off to the right of Butters. He didn't know what was down that hallway, but he saw a lot of doors. He could only assume that an elevator was down that way since the building was four stories tall.

"And what kind of mental illnesses does your son have? Why is he being emitted here?" He heard the secretary ask. He turned his head toward the voices.

"We actually don't know what is wrong with him but we were hoping you would figure that out." His mother answered. To be honest with himself, Butters didn't know what was wrong with himself either. Although, he didn't really believe anything was wrong with him, if his parents thought something was up, well then gosh, something might be wrong with him.

"Ok then, I'll just omit this part of the form then. I'll page a nurse to come get him. You may say your goodbyes as it may take a couple of minutes." The secretary smiled at them as she started making a call on the shiny, black phone.

His parents turned to him and stared for a second. He smiled as he furrowed his eyebrows. He was a little upset they couldn't stay with him, but he understood they had to leave.

"I'll go start the car." His father said and walked out the front door. Butters frowned and watched his father go. He wanted to say goodbye…

"Oh Butters, don't worry about him," his mother walked over to him and put her arms around him in a loose, but motherly, hug. Butters hugged her back. "He just doesn't know how to say goodbye. He loves you very much, we both do. We want to see you get better. That's why we're leaving you here."

"Oh-I understand. I just…I just don't understand what's wrong with me." Butters' eyes started to get teary. He sniffed and closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to be here…

"It's ok, Butters. The doctors will tell you." His mother let him go and looked at him. She pushed back some hair that had gotten in his face. " Then, when you get better, we can take you home."

Butters nodded and hugged her again. He was going to miss his mother very much. He didn't know what he would do without her presence around.

"I have to go Butters, but we'll visit you this weekend. Stop crying now. Act like a big boy, ok? You're seventeen now. You shouldn't be crying." His mother scolded him and wiped his tears away with her fingers.

"O-ok. Sorry. I'll try." Butters sniffed some more and wiped at his own eyes to get what remained after his mother. "I-I'll be ok." Butters smiled despite his internal despair.

"That's my boy. I'll see you this weekend." She kissed his forehead and, before Butters knew it, she was gone.

After she left, he sighed and went to one of the couches off to the side of the lobby. He sat down and put his head in his hands. He only waited a few minutes, but a lot of thoughts went through his head at the time. What was it like inside the actual center? What were the people like? Were they like him, not knowing why they were there? Or did they all know what was wrong with them and he was the only one who didn't? Were the people there nice? Would be make friends? Gosh, he didn't know anything about psychiatric centers. The only kind he had seen were on movies, and those only showed that craziest of people. People that talked to themselves, or people that screamed. Murderers, even. He shivered. He didn't want to come across any of those kinds of people. He could only hope that it was relatively normal inside.

After the few minutes of waiting, he heard another person enter the lobby. He looked up and saw a tall man with dark hair. He was wearing light blue scrubs which, to be honest, didn't look very flattering. Butters thought the man looked nice otherwise.

"He's over there, Stan." The secretary pointed to Butters. He didn't notice it before but the woman had black hair also.

The man, Stan he was called, looked over to him and smiled. He looked back to the secretary, "Thanks, Wendy." He said to her, and then walked over to Butters. Butters didn't get up but watched, wide-eyed, as Stan came over.

"Hello. Are you Butters?" Stan asked him. Butter simply nodded, still staring widely at him. "Ah, that's good. Do you want to come with me to get you settled in? We have your room ready for you on the second floor."

"Uh, ok." Butters looked to the floor shyly and stood up to follow Stan.

"It's alright Butters. Come on, I'll take you." Stan made a move to put his hand on Butters' back. When he didn't react to the movement, Stan followed through. He guided Butters out of the lobby down the wide hallway. Stan looked down to Butters, who still had his head down. He looked really nervous. So Stan, being one of the kinder nurses, decided to try and talk to him. "So Butters, what do you think of this place?" They turned left down a narrower hallway.

"Huh? Oh, um. It's nice. The floors are really shiny. I can see myself in them!" Butters smiled up to the nice man. At least, Butters thought he was nice.

Stan smiled and looked down to the floor, "Look at that, you can! That's cool." He looked back at Butters' smiling face before he turned back forward to watch where they were going. "Was this what you were expecting when you got here?" Stan asked.

"Maybe the shiny floors, b-but I don't know what I was expecting. I thought it would be more…like a-a hospital?" By this time, they had stopped in front of an elevator. Stan pressed the 'Up' button.

"Yeah, we get that a lot. Although this is kind of a hospital, we don't look much like it do we? We would rather our patients feel comfortable here. Like a home." Stan smiled at Butters again.

Butters looked up toward the elevator number screen. He saw the numbers descend as the elevator came to pick them up. "Oh, I hope it feels that way to me. I'll be here for a while." Butters frowned slightly, "But h-hopefully not too long. I don't t-think there's anything wrong with me to tell the truth." Butters saw the elevator number descend to two.

Stan sighed. He heard that all the time with the other patients. More than likely, there was always something wrong with them, otherwise they wouldn't be there. Stan thought that the little Butters kid (his actual name being Leopold, but his parents insisted on them calling him Butters) might be normal, but then again a lot of crazy people looked normal at first glance. Then the next thing you know, you were cleaning shit from the walls. He loved his job but…there was only so much shit cleaning one could do.

Finally the elevator stopped at their level. When the doors opened, it was revealed to be empty. They walked in with Stan still guiding Butters by the back. He pressed on the '2' button, making the elevator take them up a floor. The ride only took a second, so they didn't speak for the duration of the lift.

When the doors opened, Butters could tell the floor was different. It looked less shiny, more walked on. Worn down, as if this was the floor that was used most often. They walked off the elevator and went down a relatively short hallway. When they went a few feet down, the hallway opened up to a large area with people all around. They were sitting in chairs and talking, some watching T.V. Others seemed to be playing board games. Butters stared at the scene curiously. Some even stared back at him.

"This is the main lobby of the first patient floor. This is where you guys all can hang out until dinner, which is at seven." Stan started to explain. Butters looked to him, "First floor patients can even go to the courtyard which is down the hallway we just came from, past the elevators." Stan pointed down the hallway, "They're big glass doors, so you can't miss it." Stan smiled at Butters and pointed down the hall in front of them, "This is the way to the rooms. I'll take you to yours and then you can do whatever until dinner. Come on." Stan started guiding Butters again. Butters continued looking at the lobby until it was out of view. One of the things that stuck in his mind was the fiery redhead sitting on one of the couches and reading.

When they got further down the hallway, Stan started to speak again, "See these big double doors?" Butters looked over to where Stan was pointing and he did indeed see big doors. He nodded, "That's where meals are served; The cafeteria. It's open all day and closed at night after dinner. If you feel up to snacking on something, you can get some chips or whatever there throughout the day. Only level one patients, that's patients on the second floor, are allowed this freedom so you should feel pretty lucky." Stan smiled at Butters.

Butters blinked and looked ahead. He wondered why that was. There were patients on the other floors? They weren't allowed snacks? Why not? Of course, Butters didn't ask any of this. They continued walking down the hallway until they came to another door.

"Here is where Mr. Mackey, the counselor, is. You can go to him anytime you'd like, but usually patients are required to go at least twice a week. Don't worry, he's really nice." Stan reassured him.

This was a lot to take in, Butters thought. He was never allowed this much freedom at home. It was such a big change from being grounded all the time to getting to do whatever you wanted. Or, almost whatever you wanted. It just felt like a lot. They started walking again, this time taking a sharp left. The area seemed to be laid out in a giant square wrapping around the floor. There were many more doors placed throughout the floor, but these doors had numbers on them. Some of them were open with people inside. They looked like they were patient rooms. They continued walking down the hall until they stopped at a door labeled '212'.

"Well, this is your room. Everything that you're allowed to have here is inside. Your clothes, bathroom stuff, all that jazz." Stan said to him as he pulled out a key and unlocked the door. When it opened, the light was off so Stan switched it on.

Inside was rather dull as it hadn't been decorated like the other rooms, it also had a plush beige carpet. Butters stepped inside to investigate further. The bed was pure white and pushed against the wall to the left. To the right was a giant wardrobe with, what he assumed was, his clothes inside. To the right of that was a door which, when he opened it, was a small bathroom. On the far wall, in the middle, was a decently sized window. There weren't any curtains covering it so a lot of sunlight was let through. Butters thought he'd have to decorate the room immediately.

"Well, this is where I'll have to leave you. If you have any more questions, I'll be happy to help. Or you can find another nurse to answer them." Butters turned to Stan as he started talking, "They're usually all over the place."

"Oh well, uh, t-thank you very much. I-I appreciate the tour!" Butters smiled up at Stan, who returned it immediately.

"You're very welcome, Butters. Remember that dinner is at seven. It ends around eight-thirty so you'll have time to eat and chat."

"Ok, I'll r-remember that."

"Alright then, I'll see you." At that, Stan turned around and left Butters to his own devices.

Butters sighed and turned around to look at his dull looking room. He looked toward the bed and contemplated taking a nap. Dinner was in about an hour or two and he was rather famished, so he decided that a nap wouldn't be too smart as he'd probably sleep too long. He walked to the window to see what was outside. He saw what he thought to be the courtyard. There was a bunch of benches scattered throughout the yard and a track leading through it. Trees were gathered in the back, making a kind of pseudo-forest.

Butters hummed at his choices. There wasn't anybody in the courtyard so he thought it'd be rather boring to walk around by himself; not to mention depressing.

So, with that in mind, Butters smiled and turned around to head to the lobby where all the people were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I'll be uploading the chapters periodically to give myself time to write.


	2. Rumors

Butters headed out of the door to his room, intending to go to the lobby to talk to someone. Butters absolutely loved talking to people and getting to know new friends. In fact, he did so every time he had the chance. If he saw someone that was seemingly having a bad day at the store, he would go out of the way to have a pleasant conversation with that person. It was because of this particular trait that older people loved him; old ladies especially. They always found him so polite and well mannered though his parents had always said it was rude to talk to randoms without reason. He had gotten grounded on a few occasions because of this.

It was also because of this trait that he wasn't liked very much among younger people. When he went to his old high school, he was often made fun of and picked on. He guessed that people really didn't like being randomly talked to like his parents had said. They often called him a loser or a 'Melvin' if he so much as looked at anyone's shoes. He didn't really have many friends at his school, except Bebe. Bebe was his best friend. She was always the one to defend him when someone was being mean to him or was pushing him around. He had always looked up to Bebe because she was quite strong for a female. She was a cheerleader for a number of years and is a gymnastics enthusiast. It makes sense that she has a lot of strength; she would need it to do all of those flips and tumbles.

As Butters walked the short distance to the patient lobby, he thought about all of this hoping that someone here would want to talk to him.

When he arrived, he looked around the large room. It was relatively the same as he had left it, except the people who had moved around. He saw a wide diversity of people all chatting to one another or playing games. Some of them were in wheelchairs, even. There was a group of of people in front of a flatscreen off to the right of Butters. They were hooting and hollering at the screen. Butters peeked at what was on; it was a sports game. He wasn't very interested in those, so he moved on to something else. As he peered around the rest of the room, Butters noticed something he hadn't before: all of the people here were male. That was interesting. They must separate the two sexes to prevent…frolicking.

Butters walked around the room aimlessly, trying to find something to do. He was about to pass someone on the couch, when he noticed that he had seen this person before. That hair…he saw them when Stan had taken him to his room. He had such red hair that he couldn't help but stare. It was really curly too. Butters would even go so far as to say it was pretty.

"Can I help you?"

Butters snapped out of his trance. He looked down to where the voice had come from. It had come from the guy with the red hair. He was holding a book in his hand, as if Butters had interrupted his reading.

"Oh, uh. I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to stare. It's just that…w-well, I really like your h-hair." Butters smiled at the boy.

The boy furrowed his eyebrows, "…Are you hitting on me?" He asked.

Butters panicked and shook his head quickly while waving his hands back and forth, "Oh no! Oh geez, nothing like that. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." He truly hadn't meant anything by it other than a simple compliment. Butters started to rub his knuckles together.

The boy laughed and Butters looked over him with a worried expression. "It's alright. I get compliments on my hair all the time, though I don't know why to be honest." The boy smiled at Butters, "Do you want to sit down?"

Butters wore a surprised expression for a second before smiling back at the boy and nodding. He sat down next to him and looked around slightly before looking back. "Hiya! I-I'm Butters. It's nice to meet you!" He stuck out his hand.

"Butters, huh? I'm Kyle. Nice to meet you too." Kyle put his book to the side and shook Butters' hand then. "If you don't mind me asking, why did your parents name you Butters?" Kyle took his hand back to look at Butters with a questioning face.

"Oh uh, well, see Butters isn't my real name. It's really Leopold, but everyone just calls me Butters."

"But…why?" Kyle looked very confused.

"I-I think its because my last name is Stotch. Butters Stotch."

"Butters Stotch?" Kyle thought about it for a second before a light went off behind his eyes, "Oh, I get it! Butterscotch. Hah, that's funny." Kyle laughed a bit.

"Hah, yeah, I didn't get it either a-at first."

"Well, its good that-" Kyle started to say something but he was suddenly cut off by a loud, booming voice that reached over the entire lobby.

"KAHL, WHERE THE FUCK IS MY HAIRBRUSH!?"

"I DON'T KNOW. WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHERE YOUR STUPID HAIR BRUSH IS!?" Kyle yelled back at the voice.

Suddenly, a large, rather robust man towered over Butters and Kyle. Butters looked scared while Kyle was sitting there and glaring at the man.

"Jew-boy, I'm seriously. I need my hairbrush." The man put his fists on his hips, looking rather intimidating.

"Well, I don't know where it is, fatass. Where did you last have it?"

"Now now, Kahl, if I knew where I had it last, we wouldn't be having this conversation now would we?" The man tilted his head defiantly at Kyle in an attempt to mock him.

The mocking worked as Kyle rose to stand in front of the man, "Maybe if you actually looked instead of automatically coming to me for your apparently lost items, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Fellas?"

"Maybe if you just told me where the fuck you put my lost items, I wouldn't need to come to you."

"Fellas?"

"Who the hell even said I even took them in the first place!?"

"I know you did, Kahl! You can't keep your Jew paws off anything!"

"DON'T INSULT MY PEOPLE, CARTMAN!"

"DON'T STEAL MY THINGS, KYLE!"

"FELLAS!"

"WHAT!?" They both turned to Butters with angered expressions. Butters jumped back in surprise and stared wide eyed at them.

"I-I don't think you should be fighting. M-Maybe you can talk calmly to each other and work together to find the brush?" Butters smiled, a little worried they would turn on him at any second.

"…Who the hell is this fag?"

"CARTMAN," Kyle stopped himself before he started another argument. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes before answering. He took a deep breath, "This is Butters. I think he's new here. So don't pick fights with him."

"What the hell kind of name is that? Are his parents retarded?" Cartman replied a little nastily.

"Uh, it's a nickname. M-My real name is Leopold." Butters replied before Kyle did. He grinned up at Cartman, who was eyeing him with distaste.

"That's the stupidest-"

"CARTMAN, please." Kyle interrupted him. "Behave yourself. Or do you want me to tell Ms. Choksondik you're ready for your meds?" Butters assumed this was a really good threat as Cartman gasped and gaped at Kyle.

"You fucking wouldn't."

"I fucking would. Either you introduce yourself properly, or you're going to get sedated." Kyle crossed his arms and smirked at Cartman triumphantly.

"Fuck you, Jew." Cartman cursed at Kyle before turning to Butters. He stared at the little blonde before rolling his eyes. Jesus, he was so short. "Hi, I'm Eric, but just call me Cartman, and screw you guys, I'm going over there." He pointed towards the T.V. before walking that way. Butters' eyes followed him all the way there before he settled down in front of it and started to join in on heckling the television.

"Don't worry about him," Kyle grabbed his attention back, "He's loud and obnoxious but he's essentially harmless." Kyle was staring at Cartman with his arms across his chest. He almost had a dreamy look in his eye, but Butters could be imagining it.

Gee, Butters didn't think he would meet such boisterous characters on his first day. Kyle is really nice, despite his apparent temper, and he seemed rather smart. He had a nice conversation with him which made Butters like him immediately. Cartman, on the other hand, was very loud; and big. He gave off a rather rude air about him but the more Butters thought about it, it didn't seem that Cartman was very violent. He just seemed to like to fight (verbally) with Kyle. Who knows, maybe Butters will find out more about him.

Butters couldn't wait for dinner.

* * *

It took a couple of hours before dinner was served. In the meantime, Butters stayed with Kyle to chat about random things and things going on in the center. Butters learned about Kyle's previous home life and why he was there. At home, he had a mother and a father waiting for him. He also had an eleven year old adopted brother named Ike. Kyle also told Butters why he was there; he had suffered from serious depression over a long period of time. He had started hurting himself until his parents found out. Of course, Butters had said that was awful and started to hug Kyle. Kyle didn't have any of it though as he said he was getting better and it doesn't really matter now.

Butters had also learned quite a lot from Kyle of the inner workings of the psych center. Basically, what Kyle had said about it was that there was usually a lot of activity on the second floor, the floor they were currently on. The second floor was for the level one patients: the depressives, the disabled, the there's-something-wrong-with-me-but-I-don't-know-what people (which Butters was happy to hear there were more of). Then Kyle told him of the third floor, where he had once been kept because of his self-harming. The general dangerous-to-themselves people were kept up there. There were also more of the mentally unstable people, such as people with schizophrenia, Disassociative Identity Disorder, ect. Just the people who were more serious than your average mental issues. Then they spoke of the fourth floor; the floor where the dangerous mentally ill were kept. The people there were violent to themselves and other people. Nobody on the second floor had been there before, so they didn't know what it was like. However, they had heard stories.

By the time Kyle and Butters were finished discussing what it was like on the fourth floor, it had turned seven and everyone started filing out of the room to grab a meal. Kyle asked Butters if he was hungry.

"Oh yes! Why I haven't eaten anything at all today, I don't think." Butters replied.

"Oh well, come on then. We can grab some food and meet up with the others." Kyle stood up and stretched his arms and back. Butters followed his lead.

"The others?" Butters asked Kyle. They had started walking towards the cafeteria. Kyle turned his head slightly to Butters.

"Yeah. I usually sit with a bunch of other guys. I guess you could call them my friends. I could introduce you if you'd like." Kyle grinned at Butters.

"Oh gee, that would be great! Thank you, Kyle." Butters smiled widely at Kyle, really happy he would get to make new friends.

"No problem. The line is this way." Kyle pointed to the left where a gate was erected to keep the line in order. It led into a door where Butters assumed was where people grabbed their food. They walked over to get in line, when Butters noticed the man that Kyle had fought with (what was his name? Cartman?) was in line too.

"Hey, Jew." Cartman smiled a toothy grin at Kyle, who turned away from him.

"I'm not playing this game, fatass." Kyle replied quite sharply.

"Oh come on, Kahl. I was trying to be…nice." As Cartman said the word, his expression turned into disgust.

"There's no point. It won't help your case." Kyle turned to Cartman slightly with a deadpanned look on his face. Butters tried to hide a grin behind his hand. He thought it was funny Cartman was trying to apologize without actually apologizing.

"Ugh, do you have to make me do everything? I'm sorry. There, are you fucking happy now?" There it is. Butters was really trying not to laugh.

"No. But that'll do, I guess." Kyle thought of quoting 'Babe', but he didn't think it would be appropriate. Cartman was at least trying.

"Good. I guess." Cartman folded his arms and moved up when the line did. "Hey, you still talking to that faggy kid? What's his face; Nutters?" Cartman asked Kyle, none too politely.

"It's Butters, Cartman, and he's right here. Don't call him names." Kyle glared at Cartman.

"Oh it's alright, Kyle. I-I've been called worse. I-I never got to say that it was nice meeting you, Cartman! You left so quickly." Butters smiled brightly at Cartman, who in turn made a face at Butters.

"Oh yeah, I had places to be, more important people to meet. You understand, right?" Cartman moved up in the line.

"Oh, uh, I understand. I-I'm not that interesting anyway." Butters' smile dimmed as he looked down. Nervously, his knuckles started to rub together, seemingly of their own accord.

Kyle looked over to Butters with an uncomfortable face, "Oh Butters, don't say that. If you weren't interesting, I wouldn't have talked to you for as long as I did." He put his hand on Butters' shoulder, "Cartman is just a big fat jerk. Emphasis on the 'fat' part." Kyle smiled down to Butters.

"EY, I'm BIG BONED. There's a fucking difference Kahl!" Cartman yelled.

"There literally is no difference because 'big boned' doesn't exist." Kyle turned to Cartman to yell at him, "It's a lie your mother told you so you wouldn't feel bad about yourself." Cartman gasped.

"You callin' my mother a lier?" Cartman looked threateningly over Kyle. Butters looked a little worried. Kyle had said that Cartman was harmless, but that didn't mean he didn't look scary.

"I'm not calling her anything, Cartman. I don't know your mom." Kyle rolled his eyes.

"You're damn right you're not; and no you don't. So don't talk about my mom."

"Fine, I won't. Unlike you, I have more respect for the average person."

Cartman sniffed defiantly, "Good."

"Hey, can you guys move up? You're keeping up the line." Someone behind the three called to them.

"Oh shit, sorry!" Kyle called back to them and started to push Cartman forwards, "Let's go, Cartman." Cartman wouldn't budge though. He pushed Kyle's hands off of him.

"I go when I damn well feel like it!" Like the rebel he is, he stood there for about five seconds. Kyle and Butters waited patiently. Well, Butters waited patiently. Kyle glared at Cartman and tapped his foot repeatedly. After the few seconds had passed, Cartman moved forward to grab his food.

As soon as they were finished getting their trays, ("Oh wow, this is like school!" Butters had said.) they headed to the tables to sit. Kyle seemed like he knew where he was going so Butters followed him. Eventually, they arrived at a table with a bunch of guys who looked to be in their teens.

"Hey guys!" Kyle called out to the table and they all turned their heads to him. Kyle set his tray down and continued to speak, "Guys, this is Butters. He's new here, so be nice to him, alright?" Kyle pointed out Butters who was right beside him. Butters smiled and waved to them all. He got a few 'hello's and 'what's up's then everyone went back to their conversations. Well, that went better than Butters had anticipated.

After they sat down and began to eat, Butters looked around the table. He confirmed to himself that, yes, this was a table of teenagers all around his age. He counted eight people all together, counting Cartman and Kyle, who were seated beside each other. He saw one of them wearing a hat and reading a book, and one of the boys was in a wheelchair at the end of the table. A bit of the conversation they were having floated into Butters' ears.

"Gah, I wish they would just put a lock on his door." A wild-haired blonde said. He twitched as he spoke, "He can't get out if he has locks!" His hands waved wildly in the air.

"Tweek, they do put locks on his door. He just gets out some other way." Said a dark skinned boy.

"What other way could that be? That floor should be pretty damn secure." A brown haired boy chimed in, "If you ask me, nobody on that floor is doing their job right. Someone is going to get hurt and then BAM," he slapped his hand together, "A lawsuit waiting to happen."

"Well I for one t-t-t-think he needs to b-b-b...be moved permanently. I-It isn't safe here with him r-r-r…roaming around." A boy with a pair of crutches leaned up beside him proposed.

"Timmy!" The boy in the wheelchair yelled out

Kyle turned to face them, "Are you guys talking about Kenny?" He asked.

The last boy, the one in the hat, that hadn't spoke before looked up at Kyle, "He escaped again last night. You didn't hear about it?" He asked Kyle monotonously.

"No, I guess not. What did he do?" Kyle looked on worriedly at his friends. Butters curiously glanced at Kyle and then back at the rest of the boys.

The brown haired boy spoke up, "I heard he took out one of the nurses on the third floor. There was blood everywhere!" He waved his hands theatrically with his eyes wide.

"I heard he broke one of the windows and used a piece of it to slice one of the doctor's necks open." The dark skinned boy told them.

"Oh please, this sounds like complete bullshit." Cartman chimed in with his opinion. They all turned to him, "He totally went on a murder spree and killed a few of the level two patients before jumping out of the window."

"Cartman, that's ridiculous. He would have died had he jumped out." Kyle corrected him.

"Nuh uh, Kahl." Cartman turned to Kyle, "There's a roof that goes to the lower floor under the window. He obviously jumped on that."

"I don't know, your story still sounds like it was made up." Kyle shook his head at Cartman.

"No it isn't, Kahl. I have insiders knowledge."

"That's also a lie. You're making shit up just to be included in the conversation."

"I am not!" Cartman loudly denied.

They went back and forth like that for a good minute until Butters curiosity got the best of him, "Who's Kenny?"

Everyone paused and looked at Butters. They had bewildered expressions until the boy with the crutches addressed him, "Y-you don't know who k-k-k…Kenny is?" He asked.

"Oh uh, no. I'm new here. I-I don't really know all that much about this p-place." Butters answered him.

"Oh, well then. A-Allow me to introduce myself. My name is j-j-j-j…" He paused for a second and tried again, "J-J-Jimmy. This is Timmy." He pointed to the boy in the wheelchair.

"Timmy!" Timmy smiled and yelled.

"O-Over there, we have Clyde," the brown haired boy, "T-Token," the dark skinned boy, "T-Tweek," the twitchy boy, "And c-c-c…"

"Craig," finished the monotonous boy with the hat as he was reading.

"Yes. A-Anyway, to answer your question, K-Kenny is one the m-most dangerous patients here." Jimmy explained to Butters.

"He often gets out of solitary confinement and roams the building unsupervised. Usually he gets out at night when everyone is asleep." Clyde tell Butters in a low voice. As if he were telling a scary story, "He sneaks into your room at night and cuts you in your sleep to drink your blood."

"Wuh-really?" Butters answered, frightened. Butters was already scared of the dark, he didn't need this sort of trauma.

"No, fucking Clyde. He's not a vampire, you asshole." Cartman yelled at Clyde from across the table.

"You don't know what he does when he goes into peoples' rooms!" Clyde defended, "He could rape you for all you know!"

All this talk about a dangerous patient sneaking into peoples' rooms was making Butters nauseous. He moaned and put his face down on the table.

"Guys, quit it. You're scaring Butters!" Kyle yelled at the group.

"N-No, it's fine. I-I just need to lie down." He got up from the table and stood, leaving his half empty tray.

"Are you sure you don't want to finish your food, Butters?" Kyle asked worriedly. He didn't want Butters to starve himself. Lord knew that people did that all the time there.

"I-It's alright. You can have it if you want. I'm kind of tired and I'm not hungry anymore." He smiled at Kyle, who was still looking worried despite Butters saying it was alright.

"Ok, if you insist."

"Sweet, I'll take this." Cartman reached over and grabbed Butters' leftovers.

"God, you're such a pig." Kyle commented at Cartman.

"Shut the fuck up, Jew. I can eat whatever I want." He picked up Butters' half eaten sandwich and bit into it, chewing very loudly. Obviously to get on Kyle's nerves.

"Ugh, you're so gross!" Kyle yelled at Cartman. Butters smiled and started to walk away from the table to head to his room. He could still hear the arguing when he got to the doors.

"You're just jealous you can't have your cake and eat it without getting fat. I, on the other hand, will always keep my buff physic."

"Oh, fuck you!"

Butters laughed and walked out the cafeteria doors.

* * *

As soon as Butters returned to his room, his eyes swept over the interior. Despite what he had said earlier, Butters was not fine. In fact, he was downright frightened. Butters had always been afraid of the dark and the talk of a maniac coming into peoples' rooms at night only made this fear more real. After he looked over his room, he went around the door to check the bathroom. He opened the door a little slowly, but when it was opened he took a look inside. It looked empty to him. There wasn't anything hiding in the cabinets below and above the sink, he checked. He also looked behind the shower curtain; nothing was there besides his soaps and shampoos. He sighed and walked back out to his room.

As soon as he had shut the door to the bathroom, he shut his room door and headed to his bed. He laid on top of the blankets, suddenly feeling very tired. It had been a pretty eventful day. He was glad he made new friends and got to speak with them, even if it was about an apparent murderer who roamed the halls at night. He could only hope the man they called Kenny didn't escaped again tonight.

With that thought, he rolled over and closed his eyes. He thought about happy things, such as bunnies. Eventually, he fell asleep.


	3. Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, this is embarrassing. I accidentally uploaded the second chapter instead of the first and I only just NOW noticed. So...I'm uploading a new chapter ahead of schedule. Go ahead and re-read the first chapter. The second is the same as before.
> 
> I'm so sorry!

Stan sighed as he walked down a freakishly clean hallway, his reflection shining and shoes squeaking on the floor. It was rather late at night and he was extremely tired from running around the center, seeing to all of his patients needs. It had been a long day and he was ready to go home to his wife, Wendy, and their baby. He hadn't gotten to see much of their son since his work hours have been very demanding lately. He honestly could not wait for the weekend since he was allowed time off then. He was just so…tired. However, there was one thing he needed to do before he left to go home for the night.

Stan arrived at an elevator and he quickly pressed the up button. During the few seconds he waited for the elevator to descend, he rapidly tapped his foot on the floor. He couldn't believe he going to do this. He couldn't believe he had been doing this. If he ever got caught, he was going to be fired for sure. He would never be able to work in this town again. He would never be able to work in the medical field again. Oh God, why was he doing this again?

Oh yeah, it was for a friend…

The elevator softly dinged, startling Stan from his thoughts. He shook his head and went inside the elevator after the doors had opened. He hesitated before pressing the fourth floor button. The doors closed, and although they were very quiet, it had to be the loudest noise Stan had ever heard. He took a stuttering breath and closed his eyes. Leaning on the railing, he tied to calm his nerves. This had been going on for a few years now. You'd think he would be used to it, but no. There was always the chance that he would get caught, and it wouldn't just be him either.

As soon as the doors opened, Stan eyes opened. He looked down the fourth floor hallway just ahead of where he was standing. Immediately, he could see the shiny floors and doors spaced very evenly throughout. He looked upwards toward the ceiling to look at the security cameras. They weren't moving back and forth as they normally did. He took that as a good sign that his partner had gotten the cameras disconnected. At least temporarily while he did what he was supposed to do.

As soon as he checked that all of the cameras weren't moving, he rushed out of the elevator to head down the long hallway. His shoes squeaked as he briskly moved his feet, one in front of the other. He counted his footsteps as he reached the end of the hallway, but forgot the number of steps he had taken as soon as he turned left. Another half of a minute before he reached his next turn, a right. Straight down the hallway he went until he reached a set of secured double doors.

Now, he couldn't use his card to enter the area unless he wanted to be caught this way. Scanning his hospital ID would just log him into a list of people who had entered the area, rising his chances of being caught. He paused at the door for a second until he looked up right above the door. A camera was placed strategically at the head of the door, seeing anyone that wanted to be admitted through the doors. Usually, the doors would automatically open should someone use their ID, but since Stan couldn't do that he had to wait.

After a few seconds, he heard a beep and then a click. Stan looked to the door and then to the camera, to which he nodded his thanks. He couldn't see his partner on the other side, but he hoped they could see it. After that, he headed to the door and pushed it open so he could enter the solitary confinement area. One of the most secure areas in the entire building. One slip up here, and he would lose everything.

After a quick glance towards the cameras to make sure they were deactivated, Stan walked down the hallway, glancing at the door numbers as he passed. They started from 401 and ended at 499. He didn't need to walk long to get where he was going, which was room 420. He just had to head down the main hallway (401-410) and turn left into the hallway that would hold room 420.

The journey wasn't very long, it never was, but as soon as he had reached the room his heart rate sped up. His anxiety at an all time high. Even though this person was his friend, had been his friend for years, he just got the feeling that if they wanted to, they could easily take him out with a swift and strong kick to the face. Though, he was sure they would never do that, that still didn't ease the fear deep in his gut. He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and unlocked the door with the key he pulled out of his scrub pants.

When he pushed the door open, all he saw was darkness. A deep darkness that seemed very fitting for this person. They seemed more comfortable in it than anything. Stan's eyes searched the room for any movement.

"I didn't think you'd come today. Took you long enough." A voice teased from within the room.

"Sorry, I got held up with the rest of the patients." Stan let go of the room door, feeling it was safe enough as his friend seemed in a good enough mood, "Someone on the third floor got a hold of something sharp and…well. You know." Stan shrugged his shoulders, seemingly unbothered with the occurrence he hinted at.

"That sucks. Did they kill themselves?" The voice asked. Stan heard a creek from the bed as the figure stood.

"No. They just bled a lot. Guess who had to clean that up?" Stan made a disgusted face as he spoke to the figure.

"Gross, dude. I hope you don't catch the HIV." The figure laughed and started toward the door.

"Very funny, Kenny." Stan replied dryly. He backed into the hallway from whence he came to make room for his friend to come out.

Kenny McCormick came from the darkness of the room, seemingly to be birthed from it. He stood at an impressive six foot two with straight, medium length blonde hair. His blue eyes shine with mischief and his smile was as sharp as his tongue. He wore his favorite orange hoodie, to which he technically wasn't supposed to have but every time someone tried to take it away he got a little bit violent. Just a little violent.

"Thanks for letting me out. I gotta repay you one day, really." Kenny said sincerely. He knew how much stress this put on Stan. Plus, he always repaid his debts.

"It's not a problem, dude. If this will help with whatever problems you have, I'll do this every day until you're released." He put his hand on Kenny's should and shook it slightly, "You're my friend. I just want to see you get better." Stan eyed Kenny worriedly. He really did want to see him better. Ever since Kenny had been admitted, this is all he had ever wanted for him. He knew Kenny wouldn't get any better being locked up in solitary all the time. This was the only way he thought he could help.

Kenny smiled softly at Stan and stuffed his hands in his hoodie. He didn't know what to say to his friend as he wasn't very good at sentimental shit, except, "Thanks, dude."

"No problem." Stan grinned at Kenny and removed his hand. He looked down at his feet and shuffled them a bit before asking, "So, you want to get out of here?" He looked to Kenny for confirmation.

"Hell yeah." Kenny smiled widely and bumped the back of his hand into Stan's shoulder.

Stan laughed and they started to walk out the area. The whole time, Stan glanced around at the cameras, nervous that they were being recorded. He trusted his partner though. Damien was also Kenny's friend and wanted to help as well. It was just good luck that he worked in the security department and was able to disable the camera recordings every time Stan went to let Kenny out for the night.

"So, anything new happen while I was locked up?" Kenny started the conversation after they had exited the solitary confinement area. He wanted to know where to go for his nightly rounds. "I mean, besides the cutting incident."

"Um…" Stan thought about what had happened that day. Someone had shit themselves, there was the cutting incident, one of the nurses was having an affair with another nurse…

"There's a new patient on the second floor." Stan thought of the little blonde with the bright blue eyes and happy demeanor.

"Seriously? Cool. What room is he in?" Kenny asked, already thinking of ways to scare the kid. He rubbed his hands together and chuckled menacingly.

"Kenny, he's new here and probably has already heard the rumors about you. At least give him a day to settle in." Stan looked over at Kenny once they arrived at the elevator. "He's probably scared shitless."

"What, of me? I haven't done shit!" Kenny was incredulous. He couldn't believe that the kid could already be scared of him, even through the rumors. They were obliviously made up. Or, at least some of them.

Stan sighed and pressed the down button to the elevator. He didn't really approve of what Kenny did when he was let loose, but it wasn't like Stan could control him. He could tell Kenny not to sneak into peoples' rooms at night but, more than likely, Kenny was going to do it anyway for shits and giggles. He used his mostly made up reputation to scare the crap out of people, causing them to spread more rumors and misinformation about Kenny's condition. This would eventually get back to the doctors and therapists who would use this information to diagnose him. This psych center was fucked.

"You know very well what people say about you. Dude, you know I don't like telling you what to do, but please; don't bother this kid." Stan begged him. He turned to look at Kenny with a pleading expression, "If you're going to visit him anyway, at least do it quietly."

Kenny rolled his eyes and puffed up his cheeks with air, letting it loose with a little popping noise, "Fucking fine. I still want to see him though." Kenny looked down the hall as the elevator dinged and the door whisked open, "Is he cute at least?"

Stan laughed and walked into the elevator. He turned around to face Kenny before pressing the first floor button, "Go see for yourself, dude." The doors closed before Kenny looked back at him. Kenny looked up to the elevator number display to see the elevator descend to the first floor before pressing the down button himself.

It was at this point that Kenny realized he didn't get the room number the new kid was in.

"I'm so fucking stupid."

* * *

Kenny didn't know where to look. It could literally be anywhere in the damn office. Mr. Mackey had some serious hoarding issues. Like, what the fuck is with this drawer full of Cheeto bags? Who does this?! Kenny groaned loudly, knowing no one would hear him. The walls of the office were relatively thick, since this was a therapist's office after all. Having thinner walls would be kind of counter productive.

He figured he would have to go to someone and ask. Who should he ask though? There weren't many people who he talked to. There was Stan, Damien, Kyle…

Kyle! Kenny pounded his fist in his his other hand and smiled. Surely Kyle would know where this new kid was. He was exceedingly nice to people. Hopefully Kyle had heard at least something on the new kid. With this new plan in mind, Kenny exited the office and snuck down the hallway, mindful of the cameras. He knew they would be recording, but Damien should still be on duty. He would make it seem like Kenny had just gotten out just after he went home with his editing skills. Kenny never knew how Damien did it as he never told Kenny. He just assumed Damien edited it with his demon powers or whatever. Yes, demon powers. Kenny isn't kidding when he says Damien has demon powers. He is the son of Satan after all. Kenny is very assured that this is not his crazy showing through as Damien told him himself who he was. Unless he imagined that as well.

Kenny shook his head. He was getting way off base. He blamed the stupid medicine. He shouldn't have taken it when the nurse gave it to him. Should have just thrown it back into her face, or hidden them under his tongue. They never checked there even though they are supposed to. They probably learned from last month, stupid bitches.

Kenny walked languidly down the hall. Kyle's room wasn't far from the counsellor's office, thank God. He didn't want to walk halfway across the building just to ask a simple question. Kyle's room was down the hall and to the right in room 218. As soon as Kenny got there, he pulled out two Bobby pins from his hoodie pocket, one being bent in a ninety degree angle and the other's tip being bent. He crouched down on the floor and stuck the bent one inside the lock on the door first. Then, using the tipped one, he started manipulating the anchors on the inside of the lock. Usually, patients on the second floor didn't have their doors locked by nurses, but Kyle was a special case. He sort of sleep walked. The first few times he did, he walked around the building aimlessly until someone found him the next morning asleep on a bathroom floor. Since then, they've had to lock the door so he wouldn't get out. Otherwise, he's not that bad.

Kenny hummed a random song as he worked on the lock. Picking was fun and he didn't get to do it often. He could only hope when he got out that he could turn this into a hobby of some sort. An innocent one, he wouldn't make a habit out of breaking into things.

He stopped humming when he heard the door click. He stood up and stretched a little before trying the door. The knob turned successfully and Kenny smiled triumphantly. He was so fucking badass. Putting the two pins back in his pocket, he opened the door further to reveal a dark room with only light filtering through the window. The moonlight was soft and silvery looking, and Kenny only sighed for a second before turning to the redhead in question he came to see.

Kyle was stretched out on his bed with only half of his blanket covering him. His delicate ass was showing through his pajamas as they weren't very loose. Kenny has always appreciated Kyle's ass. He took the chance to look at it whenever he could, which wasn't often. He wasn't allowed to touch though. That was reserved for someone else.

Kenny sighed at the sight but he was here for something and he couldn't be distracted. Kenny shut the door silently and creeped over to Kyle's bed. He was laying on his stomach and breathing loudly with his mouth open. Kenny always found it weird that Kyle didn't snore. He was a little bit of a freak of nature, Kenny thought. Not more than Kenny was, but still a freak. He slowly dropped down to Kyle's level in front of his face before putting his hand on Kyle's shoulder to gently wake him.

"Hey, fuck face, wake up!" Kenny roughly shook Kyle's shoulder.

Kyle snorted and jerked awake. He looked frantically around the room before his eyes landed on Kenny, "Kenny?" He slurred, still not fully awake. He reached his hands up to rub his face, "Oh God, what's happened?" Kyle moaned into his hands. He rolled over to his back, trying to wake up.

"Nothing. I just need to ask you something." Kenny jumped up on Kyle's bed and sat in front of him. He sat criss-cross apple sauce and leaned his elbows on his knees.

"What the hell do you want?" Kyle sat up and leaned on his head board. He rubbed his eyes some more before speaking again, "Do you know how late it is? I need my sleep."

Kenny shook his head, "Nope, and I need some information from you."

Kyle looked at him in confusion, "What kind of information?" He asked. Kyle hadn't seen Kenny in a while and the first thing he wanted from him was information?

"Yeah. Was there a new kid admitted today? Do you know what room he's staying in?" Kenny lowered his hands from his face and looked at Kyle seriously, "I kind of want to see him. There hasn't been anyone new here in years." The last new person that had been admitted to the center had been Kyle. Kenny went to see him too and that's how they became friends. Though, Kenny didn't come out without marks.

"Are you serious? He just got here, Kenny. What are going to do, scare him?" Kyle berated Kenny. That was exactly what Kenny's plan had been when he came to Kyle's room for the first time.

"No." Kenny denied. Kyle glared at him, "Ok, maybe a little bit." Kenny corrected himself. He wasn't a complete lier.

"You're a dumbass, you know that?" Kyle crossed his arms and shook his head at Kenny.

"So, are you gonna tell me or not? Because I will go around this entire floor and open everyone's door until I find him." Threatened Kenny. Whether Kyle believed he would or not, he was just bored enough to try.

Kyle scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Oh my God. Fine, whatever. He's down the hall on the left side. Room 212." He pointed in the room's general direction.

"Awesome! Thanks, dude." Kenny jumped up from Kyle's bed. He skipped to the door before turning around, "By the way, how's Cartman?"

"What? He's fine, I guess. Why?" Kyle asked, confused on why Kenny would ask about the fatass. Usually he didn't really care.

"Because you're more…calm than usual. Has he fucked you yet?" Kenny grinned a perverted smiled at Kyle.

"Get the fuck out my room, Kenny!" Kyle grabbed one of his pillows and threw it at him. Kenny laughed as he got hit in the face.

"Guess he hasn't!" He yelled before escaping through Kyle's door. He laughed as he heard Kyle groan through the door. He seriously needs to get laid.

With a newfound giddiness, Kenny began to head toward his new victim's room.

* * *

Darkness stretched around his bed and invaded his senses. He could barely see the floor around him as he got up from his bed to head to the bathroom. Butters made a frightened moan as he stood from his bed to run to the bathroom to do some business. As soon as he reached the bathroom, he reached in and switched the light on. He sighed in relief as light flooded the bathroom and, in turn, his room. His fears were squashed for the time being before going into the bathroom and shutting the door.

Shortly after he shut the door, the door to his room opened. Kenny peaked his head inside, his expression curious. He glanced around the plain room before his eyes landed on the twin bed off to the left. His eyes furrowed when he found it to be empty. That's strange, the patients weren't allowed out of their rooms after ten. That's when he heard the toilet in the bathroom flush.

"Oh shit." Kenny cursed and looked to the bathroom. He had no time to stand around so he quickly hid on the other side of the wardrobe on the right side of the room. He hadn't even closed the room door before the bathroom door opened. Light shined into the room, illuminating a figure coming out. A short blonde boy that immediately noticed the open room door.

"That's weird." He said in the cutest voice that Kenny had ever heard. It was a voice that was a little nasally mixed with a bit of a southern accent. He always had a weakness for southern accents.

Butters stared at the door for a good few seconds, trying to figure out how it had opened. Maybe one of the nurses had come in to check on him? He guess that was what had happened. He didn't know if they did this regularly or not, but he guessed so if the door was opened. After the few seconds, he shrugged and carefully shut the door, but not before checking out in the hallway if anyone was there. There wasn't anyone, so he shut it completely. He yawned as he headed back to bed. He decided to leave the bathroom light on so he could see, and so the light would be illuminating the room. He didn't want to be left in the dark anymore.

As he walked to the bed, he felt a little…strange. Butters stopped moving just before he got back into bed. He felt like something was watching him. It was a little scary to be honest. He looked side to side before turning around…

And seeing a very tall, hooded man standing in the corner of his room.

Butters' eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He wanted to scream, but he could find it himself to do so. He felt like a deer in the headlights, just standing there and waiting for its death. He was frozen, he couldn't move. Suddenly, the man lifted up a hand.

"Hello." He said. Butters didn't reply. He continued to stare at the man, wide eyed. "Uh…I'm not gonna hurt you, little guy." The man reached up to his hood before taking it off of his head. "Honest." He smiled brightly.

"W-what are you doing in my room?" Butter continued to stand still, but he finally found his voice.

"I just wanted to meet you." The man took a step forward. "I heard you were new here, so I wanted to welcome you, officially." Suddenly, the man crossed his left arm over his chest, his hand to his heart, and bowed low. "My name's Kenny." He peaked up at Butters through his hair which was covering face. "What's your name?"

"B-B-B…Butters." Butters' stutter picked the worst time to manifest itself in the worst way. He was still scared, but it didn't seem like this man, Kenny, was going to hurt him.

Wait…Kenny? Oh gosh.

"Ohhh…OHHH! You're KENNY!" Butters exclaimed in excitement, and a little fear. He pointed to Kenny, who stood up straight in reaction to Butters' exclamation.

"Oh, yeah. Have you heard about me?" Kenny smirked and walked slowly towards Butters. Butters followed his movements, a little wary about him.

"Y-Yeah. Everybody was talking about you at dinner." Butters started to rub his knuckles together in his nervousness to be talking to this apparently dangerous patient. What was he going to do to Butters? He said he wasn't going to hurt him, but should he be really be trusted?

Kenny continued to walk forward. He still had an easy smile on his face in order not scare Butters. Seriously, this was the cutest kid he had ever laid eyes on. He thought Kyle was cute when he first met him, but Kyle is a different kind of cute. Butters is the kind of cute that makes you want to bleed rainbows and throw up puppies. Kenny stopped walking just short of being within of foot of the little blonde.

Butters stared up at Kenny, who towered a good seven inches over him. Butters' eyes were wide and curious, but still he was a bit scared. Seriously, this guy just walked into his room without any hesitation, it seemed. That was a little freaky.

"Oh really? What did they say about me?" Kenny asked. He walked around Butters and dropped himself onto his bed, like he belonged there; like he and Butters were best friends and he was just there for a visit.

"T-that you sliced someone's neck open and jumped out of a window." Butters said truthfully. He didn't really see a reason to lie to him. Plus, it was always in his mental rule book to never lie. Lying wasn't very nice.

Kenny burst out laughing. He put his hand over his face and leaned back on the bed, making it squeak. Those fucking idiots. That was the most ridiculous rumor he had ever heard, and he had heard quite a lot. "That's fucking stupid." He finally said after calming his laughing down. He took his hands off his face and folded them over his stomach, again looking like he belonged there.

"Oh uh, i-is that not what happened?" Butters looked down over Kenny as he continued to rub his knuckles.

"Nah. I assume they're talking about the other night?" He looked over to Butters, who nodded, "Well, that's not what happened. At least, the slicing thing didn't happen." Kenny shrugged one shoulder.

Butters gasped, "You jumped out of a window?" Butters finally moved from his place and sat beside Kenny and faced him, "Are you ok?" Butters looked over Kenny worriedly, like a mother who had just seen her kid fall down.

Kenny chuckled at him. He was funny. "Yeah I'm fine now. That happened a while ago, you know." He faced Butters and looked into his eyes. He had really pretty blue eyes.

"Oh. Well, uh, good." Butters stared back. He got a good look at him for the first time tonight. He had blonde hair and blue eyes like he did. Except, they were better looking on him than on Butters. At least, Butter thought so. His dad always said that he looked like a little kid that hadn't hit puberty yet and he needed to grow a mustache or something. He had tried that before, but it didn't really work out because he couldn't grow any facial hair. At least, not very well. Kenny could probably grow a beard.

"Could you grow a beard?" Butters suddenly asked.

Kenny got confused for a second before letting out a startled laugh, "Yeah, why?" He smiled up at Butters.

"Oh uh, no reason. I was just thinking about random things. Sorry." Butters leaned forward and away from Kenny and looked at his hands. Kenny sat up and bent over to meet Butters's eyes.

"It's alright. You're too cute, you know that, Buttercup?" Kenny smiled up at Butters.

Butters looked over at Kenny's smiling face. Cute? What does that mean? He wasn't cute, at least he didn't think so. Butters thought of himself as pretty annoying sometimes. Cute, though? Not really.

"Oh, I-I don't think so, but thank you anyway?" Butters posed this as a question. He didn't know whether to be grateful or whether Kenny was just teasing. He also ignored the 'Buttercup' remark.

"Nah, you're cute. I don't care whether you deny it or not." He patted Butters' head, which turned in petting and smoothing down his unusual haircut.

Butters sighed and let him, for some reason unknown to him. It felt good, but he had just met this guy. He seemed friendly enough, but what was his motive? Why did he come here? He couldn't have just come to say 'hi'.

"Why did you come here?" Butter asked, continuing to let Kenny rub his head.

Kenny hummed, thinking about Butters' question, all the while rubbing his soft hair. Why did he come here? To meet the new kid? Was that really all he had come here for? To be quite honest, being stuck in solitary all the time was quite lonely, hence the word 'solitary'. He only ever had nurses for company and, although Stan was great and all, he needed more than that. More of what, though; more friends? He guessed it didn't really matter as long as it was more human contact.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Butters had started to fall asleep due to the petting. He only noticed when Butters' head came in contact with his chest. His eyes widened and he looked down to the blonde head. Butters' breathing had become slow and deep, signaling that he had fallen asleep. Kenny smiled at the little blonde. He hoped Butters would be dreaming of him tonight. Kenny took the opportunity to lean down and put his nose the Butters' hair. He took a deep breath and took in his scent. Hmm, strawberries. He had never liked strawberries before but, damn it all, if it wasn't his favorite smell now.

It took a little doing, but Kenny eventually manipulated Butters so he could pick him up, bridal style, and put him on the bed without waking him. Butters was really light to Kenny, so it wasn't that big of a deal. As soon as he had gotten him situated on his bed, he got the blanket and covered him up. Kenny then tucked him in tight and kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight, Buttercup. Sweet dreams." He petted his head one last time before standing up and making his way to the door. He looked back when he got there, just to see him one more time.

Oh yeah, Kenny will definitely be coming back.


	4. Escape

"E-Everyone's been pretty nice here and I-I haven't had any problems so far. Kyle and I talked a lot yesterday." The bright blonde boy shifted in his seat and glanced around the office while he spoke.

"M'kay." The counselor remarked. He wrote something down on a notepad that Butters couldn't see.

"Why, I e-even met his friends at dinner! They were all pretty swell." Butters smiled at the counselor, Mr. Mackey. He was brought in to the office for his first appointment by Stan. Mr. Mackey had said they could talk about anything in there, it didn't really matter what. The point of the appointments was to figure out why he was there. So far, though, Mr. Mackey wasn't sure what the little blonde's problems were. All he was seeing was a bright, young boy. A little bit naïve for his age, but otherwise normal. Why did his parents even bring him here?

"Oh, really? What did you all talk about?" Mr. Mackey asked. He continued writing in his book, but gave Butters his attention by listening to him.

"Oh well, t-they talked about someone named Kenny." Butters looked down at his hands and began to fiddle his thumbs. He knew very well who Kenny was.

"Kenny? As in Kenny McCormick?" Mr. Mackey looked up from his notes and stared at Butters, waiting for an answer.

"Y-Yeah. They were saying all kinds of things. I-I don't really believe them though." Butters looked back up to Mackey with a stern expression; his fingers stilled.

"What kinds of things were they saying?" Mackey asked. He was interested in what rumors were going around this time. He treated McCormick himself, so maybe the rumors would come in handy. Rumors stemmed from some truth after all, right?

"Oh, uh. Something about harming some people and running around the building sometimes. I-I forget what all they said." Butters shrugged. He didn't really forget. He just didn't want to perpetuate rumors about Kenny, especially when he said the majority of them weren't true.

"Oh well, that's too bad. If you remember them, tell me about them, m'kay?" Mackey requested. He was rather curious, plus he wanted to talk to Kenny about them.

"O-Ok, Mr. Mackey!" Butters smiled and nodded. He wasn't going to say anything though. Butters didn't know Kenny very well, but he figured he wouldn't appreciate it very much.

"M'kay. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Mackey returned to his writing. Butters almost wanted to ask what he was writing, but figured it was important doctor notes. In reality, Mackey was just drawing doodles of dogs.

"Hm, well, I was wondering if you knew what was wrong with me." Butters' eyebrows furrowed as he pointed to himself, "I'm really not sure why I'm here and I'm getting a little worried, see." Butters' voice shook a little as he spoke. He was genuinely worried about why he was there in the center. As far as Butters knew, he hasn't done anything to warrant being sent here.

"M'kay, well Butters, lets take a look at your symptoms that your parents told us." Mackey set aside his notebook and opened a drawer to his left. "Ah no, that's the wrong drawer." He muttered as he closed the drawer full of Cheetos bags. He reached over to his right to slide that drawer opened. "Mm, lets see here…" Mackey dug around in the drawer for a minute before pulling out a thin Manila folder, "This is it." He set it down on the desk before opening it. He read as he spoke, "Let's see, fear of the dark, m'kay. Can't seem to follow rules, m'kay. Caught with mother's makeup…" Mackey looked up to Butters. Butters eyes darted to the left. "M'kay. The last one is general unresponsiveness when introduced to a stressor. M'kay." Mackey nodded, almost to himself. He looked up and spoke in a leveled manner directed to Butters, "Well, besides the last one, I don't think any of those are symptoms of anything. Do you know what the last symptom is referring to?"

Butters face pinched in thought. He didn't really know what that was referring to. What stressor was it talking about? He wasn't really stressed about anything. His school was fine, besides the people that picked on him from time to time. His general life was…alright. He didn't really understand what that meant. "N-No. I don't know what that means." He shook his head at Mackey.

Mackey sighed and tapped his finger on his desk. He'll have to do some research; and by research, that means he'll have to google it. "Alright then. I'll have to look into it. Until then," he looked to the clock on the wall behind Butters, "I think our time is up. I'll see you in a couple of days, m'kay?" His gaze returned to a slightly smiling Butters.

"Oh ok, Mr. Mackey! I'll see you then. Thank you for the help. I really appreciate it." Butters said as he got up from the chair. He waved goodbye to Mackey and headed out the door. Mackey waved half-heartedly back to a retreating Butters.

"M'kay, now where is that laptop?" Mackey muttered to himself and began to shuffle through his mess.

* * *

"I'm just saying, it wasn't a bad idea."

"So what you're saying is that it was a good idea to kill off millions of disabled people?"

"No, I just said it wasn't a bad idea. Maybe if disabled people didn't exist, places like this wouldn't exist and they wouldn't be stealing money from the government."

Kyle sighed as he walked along side Cartman, "Why do I even talk to you?" He shook his head in amazement. Cartman was amazingly offensive sometimes.

"Because I'm amazing? Because you can't resist this?" Cartman gestured to his entire body, "I know I'm amazing, but Jesus Kahl. I can only give you so much." He sighed, as if he was so tired of dealing with awesome amazingness. He was, though; it was hard being so amazing.

"Oh, shove it up your ass." Kyle shoved Cartman lightly off the path they were walking on in the courtyard. He tried not to laugh at Cartman's ridiculousness, but it was getting increasingly hard. He didn't want to encourage him.

"Maybe I should shove it up yours." Cartman had meant this as a comeback, but…well.

Kyle had enough, he stopped walking and started laughing uncontrollably. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, feeling tears come out of his eyes, "You're such a dumbass, C-Cartman!" His entire body shook with laughter as he eventually crouched down because his knees gave out.

Cartman sniffed at the laughing Jew and simply started at him. Secretly, he liked making the little kike laugh. He hadn't really meant to this time, but still; he liked it. Cartman put his hand to his hip and asked, "Are you ready to head back or not?"

As Kyle's laughter died down, he stood back up and brushed his track clothes off, even if they didn't have any dirt on them. He smiled largely and looked around at where they were. They were in the back of the track in the courtyard inside the trees. He and Cartman had decided to go for a walk due to boredom and lack of anything to do. Kyle had reluctantly agreed to go with him, but he had been on walks with him before. Honestly, when the two were alone, they didn't seem to fight all that much. Oh, they still fought, but not as much as when they had an audience.

"Yeah, I think we should head back." He faced Cartman again, who was looking at him weird.

"Uh, Cartman?"

"Huh?" God, his hair was so...red.

"What are you doing?" Kyle's eyes narrowed at him.

Cartman blinked and then scoffed. He started walking back the way they came and simply brushed by Kyle. Kyle turned to look at Cartman's retreating back before lowering an eyebrow in confusion. Cartman was acting weird, and he didn't know what to do about it.

"Are you coming or not, Jew?" Cartman yelled behind him. He looked back to see the Jew just standing there. Stupid day walker.

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming!" Kyle moved forward to catch up to Cartman. What ever was making Cartman act weird would have to wait until later. He was getting pretty hungry and he needed to take his insulin soon.

As soon as they got back from the courtyard, Kyle went to take his insulin. The nurse there was nice enough, but he had been hoping to see Stan. Stan was his friend and Kyle kind of used Stan as a pseudo counselor. Stan wasn't good at giving advice, but he was a good listener. It also worked vise-versa. Stan told Kyle things that happened in his life and Kyle listened to him when ever he needed. Stan wasn't there though, so he guessed he would catch him somewhere else.

After leaving the nurse's station, Kyle headed toward the patient lobby. He didn't really know what he was going to do. Maybe read or watch T.V…

"Hi, Kyle!"

Kyle was startled into a slight scream before turning around to see Butters. He was smiling up at Kyle with wide and innocent eyes.

"Oh shit, Butters. You scared me." Kyle clutched his chest and took a deep breath.

"Oops. S-Sorry, Kyle. I didn't mean to." Butters looked genuinely sorry and began to rub his knuckles together.

Kyle noticed this and put his hands over Butters' to get him to stop, "It's alright, Butters. Really." Kyle smiled down at him.

Butters stared for a second before smiling back. Kyle removed his hands before Butters asked, "W-What are you up to today?"

Kyle shrugged, "I just got back from a walk outside. I was going to my room to rest for a bit. You want to come with? I'm kind of bored to be honest." He pointed toward the general direction of his room.

"S-Sure! I just got out of Mr. Mackey's office, s-so I don't have anything to do." Butters shrugged and grinned.

"Oh, you had an appointment with him? How'd that go?" Kyle started walking down the hall to his room. Butters followed him shortly after.

"It was…alright. H-He said he would help me find out what my problem was." He put his finger to his lips and hummed, "His office is rather messy though. It was hard to get through the door."

Kyle laughed, "Rather messy? Dude, Mackey is a hoarder. He seriously needs a counselor of his own."

Butters laughed as well, but nervously. He was uncomfortable speaking ill of people behind their backs.

Soon enough, they reached Kyle's room. It was closed, so Butters let Kyle open it for them. What was inside was rather interesting to look at. Inside was a room filled with various posters of bands, most of which he'd never heard of. The general layout of the room was the same as Butters' room, except with a few additional pieces of furniture. He had a side table and a bookshelf to the right and left side of his vertically turned bed (rather than horizontally turned, like Butters' was). His side table had a small lamp on it while his bookshelf was filled with various books and small figures. Butters stepped closer to look at them. All of this was layed over a similar beige carpet to Butters'. The window was in the same place, except it had a red curtain.

"Wow, Kyle. Your room is really nice! Ah-I wish my room was this nice." Butters remarked as he continued to survey the room.

"Thanks, Butters." Kyle went to sit on the bed. He watched as Butters looked around at everything, "I'm sure your parents will bring you stuff to decorate with." Kyle shrugged.

"Oh, I-I hope so. I'm supposed t-to see them this weekend." Butters stopped looking at everything and stood near the bed, "Do you know what day it is?" Butters asked. He hadn't had the chance to check the day since his parents had rushed him out the door yesterday.

"It's Wednesday." Kyle answered. He smiled up at Butters, "You can sit if you want to you know." He informed Butters as he scooter back onto his bed and leaned on the headboard.

Butters smiled as he sat, a little rigidly though. "Thanks. I-I hope they do come. I kind of want to see them. I miss them a lot." Butters' smile disappeared as he looked at his hands.

"Hey, don't worry." Kyle bumped his shoe on Butters gently, "I'm sure they'll come. They are your parents after all."

"Yeah, m-maybe you're right." Butters continued looking at his hands. He thought about the next words that came out of his mouth carefully, "K-Kyle, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Is…is Kenny really all that dangerous, like everyone says he is?" Butter finally looked up from his hands. He faced Kyle with a worried glance, "Has he really hurt people, do you think?"

Kyle sighed deeply. He looked away from Butters and toward the window. So, that just smothered Kyle's curiosity about what happened last night. Butters did see Kenny. However, Butters only saw the good side of him because apparently Kenny was having a good day last night. Hopefully Butters wouldn't see his bad days.

"I'll tell you the truth, Butters." Kyle turned to face him again, "He's dangerous sometimes. He's never killed anyone before, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't. He has hurt people, but never on purpose. Most of the rumors that people spread aren't true, but only because he lets them get out of proportion like that. He doesn't want anyone to know what really happens." Kyle explains to Butters with a solemn expression.

Butters' eyes were wide throughout the explanation. It almost sounded like, "Kyle, d-do you know Kenny?"

Kyle nodded, "He comes to visit sometimes. He came to your room, didn't he?"

Butters' eyebrows furrowed and pursed his lips, "Y-Yeah…" He looked down.

Kyle readjusted himself to sit cross-legged, "It's nothing bad, Butters. Though, you might want to be careful around him, just in case you know?"

Butters sighed, "Yeah. I-I'll be careful, Kyle." He looked up and smiled wearily.

"I just don't want you to get hurt, dude. He hasn't hurt me before, but you can never be too careful. This is a psych ward after all." Kyle chuckled.

Butters did the same.

After that lovely conversation, they talked about other things ranging from their favorite foods, to what they wanted to do when they got out of the center. When it was about six, they headed out of Kyle's room to hang out in the lobby until dinner.

* * *

Rocking back and forth was the only thing he could do in this God forsaken place. He didn't want to look like a stereotype, but shit, what else could you do? Just being in this room was enough to make a sane person crazy. It was starch white with no windows, artificial light, and a white bed. There was absolutely nothing else to do. The only thing he could do was wait until tonight when Stan let him out.

Kenny whined and put his head between his legs. What he really wanted to do was see that little blonde boy; Butters. He wanted to talk to him again, to see him. He never felt this strongly about another person before, but he didn't want to think about it. All he knew was that he wanted to see the boy again. He just had to make it through the rest of the day, that's all he had to do.

What time was it? He looked up to look at the wall. No clock in here. He had asked for one before, but the nurses had deemed it 'too dangerous'. Please, what the hell could be do with a clock? Throw it at someone? He sighed and patted out a rhythm on his knees. He could almost think of a song he used to listen to…

" _There's no hate, there's_ _no love._ _Only dark skies that hang above._ _I call your name as I walk alone._ _Send a signal to guide me home._ "

He got up and started to walk around the room, getting louder as he sang.

" _Light the night up, you're my dark star, and_ _now you're falling away."_

He slammed his back against the wall opposite to his bed.

 _"But I found in you what was lost in me, in_ _a world so cold and empty._ _I could lie awake just to watch you breathe in_ _the dead of night, you went dark on me._ "

He slowly slid down the wall during the last verse. Once he reached the floor, he groaned long and hard. This was eating him up inside. He was really starting to get anxious. If someone didn't come in soon, he would start eating his way through the wall.

Suddenly, as if his wish had come true, something started to unlock his door. His head snapped over to the sound. He quickly stood up to wait for what ever was on the other side. The door opened to reveal…

"Alright, McCormick. We're going to do this the easy way, or the hard way. You choose." Said Ms. Choksondik.

Kenny groaned. Great, he should have known it was medicine time. He lowered himself back down the wall and sneered at the nurse, "Neither. Fuck your drugs." He never thought he would see the day when he would say that.

Ms. Choksondik sighed. Alright then, the hard way it was. She lifted up her hand and snapped her fingers. All at once, two large men came into the room and hovered over Kenny. He glared at them and tensed up, not moving.

"Kenny, you know what you have to do. Just take the pills. It's not that hard, dear."

"Don't fucking patronize me, and I'm not taking shit." Kenny said firmly. "Those pills don't do anything but make me crazier!"

"Boys, if you will."

The large men started towards Kenny, but he shot up and backed up to the back wall. The men came closer and Kenny just pressed himself in further. What was he going to do? He can't take those pills, he can't! He desperately looked around the room for an out but he couldn't see one.

Wait. Yes, he could. He let the men come a little closer. Just a little bit…

When they tried to grab him, he used his skinny frame as leverage to get in between them to escape past them. He squeezed out just in time before getting caught and used the momentum to run past Ms. Choksondik and out the door. She screamed in fright as he ran past her and down the hallway. He could still hear her over his manic laughs as he ran to freedom.

Ms. Choksondik turned around and ordered the men to catch the runaway patient. When they left, she lifted a small walkie-talkie out of her belt, "This is nurse Choksondik. We have a runaway. I repeat. We have a runaway." She let go of the button.

A static sound overcame the small radio, "This is the nurse department, who's escaped?"

"It's Kenny, Stan." Choksondik replied.

On the other side, Stan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why, oh why, Kenny? You could have made it a little longer. This would only get him out on lockdown after he would get caught. He pressed the button to reply to Choksondik, "Alright. I'll inform security and get a lockdown on the place."

Choksondik raised the radio back up to face, "You better hurry, Stan. This motherfucker is fast."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song is Dark on Me by Starset.


	5. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favorite chapter, to be honest.

Kenny stood up straight and brushed his newly acquired garments off. He smoothed down his blue colored shirt and straightened his similarly colored pants. The scrubs were a little bit small because he was so tall, but these would have to do. After he decided he was alright with his appearance, he bent down to the unfamiliar nurse that was knocked out on the floor in front of him.

"Sorry, dude. I needed these; and I'll also need this." He reached down to grab the nurse's hat. He put it on his own head and smiled down at the unconscious body, "You are a scholar and a saint. Someone will find you eventually." Kenny pat the guy's head before standing up to leave from the broom closet.

He slowly opened the door as to not cause too much noise. He looked up and down the hallway to check for anyone that could catch him. He didn't see anyone, so he stepped out of the closet. He paused for a second to tie his orange hoodie that he held around his waist. He would have left it with the nurse but…nah. The hoodie was important to him, he couldn't leave it like that; especially with someone he didn't know. He'd rather his hoodie look like a big orange beacon than to part with it. After he tied it, he silently shut the door and calmly walked down the hall to the right.

He knew exactly where he was headed as he had walked these halls many times, plus he had a goal in mind. He could only hope that he got through this without being caught. That would suck.

He rounded a corner to go to the left, and as soon as he did he was faced with a group of nurses and doctors all congregating in a circle in the middle of the hallway. He froze in panic, trying to think of a way around this. He needed to go in that particular direction to get to the elevator that would take him to his destination. It could only be his luck that there wasn't a way around them. Hopefully his disguise was enough to fool them into thinking he was one of them.

Slowly, he started walking towards the group. He stayed near the wall and wondered if he could get past them that way. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be enough.

"Hey, you!" One of the nurses spotted him.

He flinched at the sudden voice. He reached up to adjust his hat slightly over his eyes, "Yes?" He answered. He turned toward the group to see them all staring at him with mixed expressions.

"Where are you going? Haven't you heard that a patient has escaped? We're supposed to be in groups." The nurse gestured to the group. "The patient is dangerous. You could get hurt."

Kenny almost laughed. He was able to keep his expression neutral, however. "Dangerous, huh? Uh, well, I was going to go down to the second floor and help out there." He shrugged and glanced to the left, the direction he was supposed to be going.

"Who said you could do that?" Oh shit. They were starting to get suspicious.

"Uh...Stan?" He phrased it like a question. Stan was a head nurse, after all. He was also the only nurse, besides Ms. Choksondik, that he knew.

"Really? Well, I guess if Stan told you to..."

"Yeah! He told me to because I'm new and stuff." Kenny laughed a little bit and rubbed his head. "Didn't want me to deal with this with me only being here for a day so far."

The group looked around among themselves and nodded, "Alright then. Sorry to keep you. You better hurry, you don't want to run into this guy." The nurse smiled at him.

"Yup, I better get going. Thanks!" Kenny waved at them before speed walking off, thankful to get away. They didn't notice anything at all.

Idiots.

As he walked, he passed many doors belonging to patients mostly, but some of them were doctor's offices. He saw the labels on the doors with their names on them. What could be inside a doctor's office though? A ton of books, papers? Maybe they had medical documents inside; those were always funny to look at when he visited Mackey's office. Maybe he should take a quick peek…

His curiosity overtook him as he entered a random office room. He didn't know who's office this was but he supposed it didn't matter. He looked around his new playground with mild interest. He was right about the books part; doctors sure love books, don't they? He looked to his right to find a giant bookcase that covered the wall the beige colored wall. There was so many books that he didn't even try to count them. He never liked reading all that much so he ended up making a face and turning away to face the desk.

There were plenty of knick knacks on top of the wooden desk. He walked over to the other side of the desk to look at the scattered papers. There wasn't really anything of interest that immediately caught his eye until he looked toward the left. An orange, rectangular, plastic object grabbed his interest. He immediately knew what it was as he reached over to grab it. He brought the object up to his face to examine it. He turned it over in his hand a few times before putting his finger on the switch on the side. Kenny smiled as he slid it up to reveal the blade hidden inside. An exacto-knife was definitely what he needed. This could get him out of a jam in the future. He quickly pocketed the item in the scrub pants.

Kenny scrunched his nose in thought as he further looked around the room. He spun in a circle before deciding he should probably get on with his mission. This office didn't have much else.

He soon exited the room to walk further down the hallway. It only took a minute before he came to an elevator, which was exactly what he was looking for. He smiled widely before pushing the down button. After, he looked up toward the security camera off to the left that was pointing at him. Kenny stuck his tongue out and flipped it the bird. Damien was probably getting flack from his superiors for not immediately telling them where Kenny was. Kenny didn't know why he wasn't fired already. He probably hypnotized the humans or some shit.

The elevator dinged and Kenny turned to an empty elevator. He sighed before walking in, relieved that there wasn't anyone inside. As soon as he entered, he pressed the second floor button. He slid his hands behind his back and watched as the elevator doors closed, allowing him to rest for a second.

Jesus, this had been really easy. He didn't know whether luck had been on his side, Damien had done a good job, or all of the nurses and doctors on this floor were idiots. He hadn't really seen anyone on this side of the building looking for him, besides that one group he had gotten passed. Security was really getting a cut back apparently. This luck wouldn't last on the second floor, however. There were a lot more patients on the second floor than the fourth. Therefore, there were more nurses and staff to watch out for them. He had to be very careful and act like he was one of them. It was a good thing no one on that floor knew what he looked like, except a select few.

The elevator dinged once more as the elevator doors opened on the opposite side of the floor he had intended to be on. Shit. Now he'll have to walk all the way around. He groaned slightly before adjusting his hat once again. Kenny would just have to be stealthy.

He would be by Butters' side again. He just had to keep telling himself that.

* * *

The cafeteria was filled with patients chattering about what ever they deemed interesting. Loud laughter and teasing filled the air as Butters sat with Kyle at the regular table. Cartman was telling a tall tale about his days outside of the center. Some of the stories were disturbing and Butters didn't know whether to believe him about those or not. A few of the stories he told were focused more on when he was in elementary school; something about a stick and Cthulhu. Kyle often called his stories 'bullshit' but Cartman insisted they were true. He had even pulled his shirt up to reveal a scar he had gotten from someone who was a patient there.

"Yeah, Scott Tenorman. That little pussy licker fucked with me so I fucked with him back." Cartman shrugged, "Probably what got him here in the first place."

"Dude, what did you do?" Butters turned his head to see Clyde ask the question. He was leaning his elbows on the table to face Cartman better.

Cartman laughed deviously, "Ah, I better not tell, but let's just say he got what was coming to him." He shrugged before picking up his fork to shovel some food into his mouth, "Ah gross, what is this shit?" He spit out what was in his mouth before sneering at the food.

Kyle opened his mouth, probably to berate Cartman, but was interrupted by a loud ringing and flashing lights. The patients in the cafeteria all seemed to make distressed noises, as the shrill ringing was making some upset. Butters looked around the room as nurses were bustling about and yelling out instructions to everyone.

"Alright everyone, this is just a drill! You know what to do. Everyone head to their rooms and stay there. Do not come out for anything!"

"A drill?" Butters asked no one in particular. He stood up from the table and started following everyone out.

Kyle came up beside him and answered his question, "Yeah, sometimes we have these drills for when something bad happens and we have to head to our rooms."

"Like a fire drill?" Butters asked. They exited the cafeteria and walked down the hallway with the horde to their respective rooms.

"A little bit like that, except for fire drills we go outside." Kyle explained. "This is more of a drill like when a dangerous patient escapes." Kyle turned to him with a pointed expression.

"You don't think...?"

"I don't know, Butters. Hopefully not. It might really be just a drill" Then Kyle turned left to go into his room, leaving Butters by himself in the crowd, which was quickly thinning out.

He shook his head and turned to the right. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. When he reached his room, he was quick to open the door and get inside before he got in trouble for staying out too long during the drill. If it really was a drill.

He turned around after he closed the door to a dark, empty room. He hurriedly turned the lights on with the switch on the left wall. Butters sighed in relief and walked to his bed just to flop down on top of it, face down. He could still hear the sirens outside of his door; footsteps still sounded as nurses and patients walked by his room. Butters could hear the demands of the nurses to the patients, telling them to get to their rooms quickly.

Butters lifted his head from his pillow and thought he might as well get ready for bed. He didn't think this drill would end any time soon. He got up and headed to the wardrobe where he kept his pajamas. He reached toward the door where his shirts were hung up on hangers. He opened it up...

"Hey, Buttercup!"

He screamed.

Butters flailed about and fell to the floor out of pure fear. His entire body shook as he gazed upon his friend Kenny, who was currently crouched inside his closet. Kenny simply smiled at his cute friend, as if it was entirely normal to be in someone's closet in the middle of the evening.

"W-W-W-W-What are y-you doing, Kenny!?" Butters yelled. He found his voice again after a few moments, his stutter becoming worse due to the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"Waiting for you. What else would I be doing?" Kenny replied normally as he climbed out of the closet. He stood in front of Butters with his hands on his hips, still smiling, and looked down over him.

"W-Why are you wearing that?" Butters pointed to Kenny's getup.

Kenny dropped his hands and looked down at what he was wearing. As if he completely forgot, his face lit up as if he just remembered, "Oh yeah, I borrowed this to get through the building." He shrugged, "No big deal." He looked to Butters again before walking over to help him up. He reached down and grabbed Butters' hands to pull him up. This caused Butters to yelp as he crashed into Kenny's chest. Kenny then wrapped his arms around him to keep him steady.

Butters hadn't realized he had closed his eyes until he opened them. He looked up to Kenny's face with wide eyes. Kenny simply smirked at him and didn't relinquish his hold.

"W-What are you even doing here?" Butters asked him. He was confused as to why Kenny was suddenly here, and why he was hiding inside Butters' wardrobe.

Kenny's smirk twisted into a frown before he answered, "Can't I come see my Buttercup?" He wiggled one of his fingers to Butters' side.

Butters giggled and tried to wiggle away, "Well, yeah, you can!" His giggling calmed down as Kenny stopped. He looked back to Kenny, who was smiling widely at Butters, "I was just wondering since they started that drill thing. We're supposed to be in our rooms.

"What drill?" Kenny lowered an eyebrow in confusion.

"They sounded an alarm for a drill and told us to go to our rooms." Kenny removed his arms from Butters and allowed him to step back to explain, "Kyle told me they do this in case a dangerous patient gets out."

Kenny's eyes widened. Butters really hadn't realized...he really hadn't realized that Kenny was the dangerous patient, had he? He really doesn't see Kenny as dangerous?

"Butters, uh." Kenny started, he just couldn't get the words out. He sighed and walked past Butters to sit on his bed. Butters followed his movements and watched him with a confused expression as he did so. He turned to Kenny, but he didn't sit down.

"Butters, what do you think about me?" Kenny suddenly asked. Kenny looked up to Butters with an expression that Butters couldn't identify.

"What do I...w-what do you mean?" Butter looked on at Kenny, worried because he wasn't making much sense to him.

"I mean what I said. What do you think about me?" Kenny was talking with a serious voice, something Butters hadn't heard before.

"W-Well..." Butters looked toward the floor and thought about the question. What did he think of Kenny? He had only met him yesterday. So far, Kenny had only been a jokester; someone who wasn't serious most of the time. He was also very touchy, not that Butters didn't like it. He rather liked the physical contact of a friend as he didn't get that very often. He didn't have any friends before he came to the center, besides Bebe. Though, Bebe wasn't very touchy-feely. She didn't even like hugs! She would freeze up if Butters ever gave her one.

There was one thing he did know about Kenny though.

"You're really nice." He looked back up to Kenny, who was still staring at him. "You're nice to me and I really appreciate it. We haven't known each other for long, but I already count you as my friend." Butters smiled brightly at Kenny.

Kenny looked at Butters, very surprised. He was his friend? Man, he wasn't even Kyle's friend until a week later after being kicked out several times. Kenny's lips twitched before he smiled just as brightly as Butters.

"Thank you. I consider you a friend too, Butters."

* * *

Butters and Kenny stayed in the room for about an hour and just talked about things. They talked about anything and everything in between, wanting to get to know each other. They joked about this and that, bouncing retorts back and forth between each other until Kenny noticed something about Butters' speech.

"Hey, you know what?" He pointed towards Butters, who was now sitting next to him against the wall on the bed.

"No, what?" Butter blinked at Kenny.

"You haven't stuttered in about an hour." Kenny pointed to his lips at he pointed out this fact. Kenny had noticed he hadn't stuttered the entire time they had talked, ever since Butters had finished his speech.

Butters gasped and raised his hand to his mouth. He hadn't stuttered? The entire time, he hadn't stuttered at all? When had that happened? He had never stopped stuttering ever since he had realized he had one. His parents often got mad because they told him not to stutter, that he sounded like a meek little mouse who had no backbone. At least, that's what they said.

"I-I haven't?" Butters flinched when he stuttered again.

Kenny smiled sympathetically at Butters when he noticed the little mishap, "Yeah. Have you always had that?"

"Ah, yeah." Butters sighed and rested his head on the wall behind him. "I've always had it e-ever since I was little." His face scrunched up when he did it again. " I went to a lot of different speech therapists, b-but none of them helped." He shrugged and looked at Kenny.

Kenny was staring at the ceiling, his head also against the wall. He hummed in response to Butters. He had an idea of why Butters might stutter, but shit, he wasn't a therapist so what did he know? He looked to Butters to find the little blonde staring at him.

"Want to go somewhere?" Kenny asked completely out of the blue.

Butters blinked at the sudden question, "Huh? B-but we aren't allowed to go anywhere." Butters frowned at him.

Kenny laughed, "Yeah, but no one will find out. I can make sure of that." He gestured toward the scrubs he was wearing.

Butters' face scrunched up in doubt. Is that how Kenny got here in the first place?

"Uh, I don't know."

Kenny got up from the bed in one swift movement. He turned to Butters and held out his hand, "C'mon, Buttercup. It'll be fun, I swear." He smiled to the little blonde boy, hoping he would go with him.

Butters stared at the hand, deliberating whether to take his hand or not. He really didn't want to get in trouble, but he did want to hang out with Kenny more...

"Ok, let's go." Butter smiled and took Kenny's hand.

Kenny pumped his fist and pulled Butters out of the bed. Butters laughed into his hand, feeling a bit like a rebel. If his parents ever found out, they would sure ground him in a heartbeat.

Not letting go of his hand, Kenny lead Butters to the door. He opened it and surveyed the outside to make sure it was safe to go. Kenny knew exactly where they were going so they could head straight there in one go. He turned to Butters and whispered, "We're going to run straight to the elevator. Don't let go of my hand, ok?"

Kenny's face was really close to Butters'. He could see Kenny's pretty blue eyes. He flushed red before nodding in understanding. Run he says, gotcha.

Kenny smirked, seeing the red on Butters' face. He didn't comment however, he just started counting down.

"Three...two..." Kenny opened the door wider, "One, go!" He ran straight out of the door with Butters in tow.

Butters ran as fast as he could to keep up with Kenny. They ran into the hallway that held Mr. Mackey's office, the cafeteria, and soon they ran by the lounge. There was no one in it, surprisingly. Butters briefly wondered where everyone had gone before they reached the elevator.

Kenny pressed the up button while Butters breathed harshly as let go of Kenny's hand and bent over. He tried to catch his breath as they waited for the elevator arrive. Kenny snickered at Butters until the blonde boy looked up at him and glared. This only made Kenny laugh a little harder. The tall blonde reached over and patted the small one on the back.

Up on the ceiling behind them, a security camera was facing them watching their every movement.

When the elevator had reached their floor, it dinged to alert the duo of its arrival. Butters stood up straight and entered the elevator when Kenny gestured that he should go first. Kenny then entered after him and faced the button panel. He pressed the button that was simply labeled 'roof'.

"We're going to the roof?" Butters asked once he saw the button that was pressed.

Kenny simply hummed a confirmation and nothing else was said from him. He didn't want to spoil the surprise. Kenny just held his hands behind his back and waited. Butters only stared, and after realizing he wasn't getting much else from him he sighed and faced the door. He waited for the elevator to rise up further, for it to signal that they've arrived at their destination.

Once it did, it opened to open air and...darkness. There weren't any lights up on the roof Butters suddenly realised. His eyes widened just a fraction before turning to Kenny; or he would have turned to Kenny had he not already exited the elevator.

"Ah, wait for me!" Butters yelled out in fear before running to Kenny. He couldn't see where he was due to his eyes not adjusting yet. This caused him to bump into Kenny's back, producing a little 'oopf' noise from Butters' throat. Kenny turned around at the sudden assault to see that Butters had run into him.

"Are you ok?" He asked, even though he knew Butters was alright.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine." Butters rubbed at his head a little bit before looking around him. He couldn't see a thing; it was very dark out. He shifted a little closer to Kenny, crowding up behind him.

"W-Why are we out here?" Butters asked in a small voice.

Kenny smiled softly at the little blonde, even though Butters couldn't see it. Kenny had always had good night vision. He could tell that Butters was afraid. "Look up, Buttercup." Kenny said softly. He put his arm around Butters as well, just to let him know that Kenny was there.

Slowly, Butters looked up. He gasped as he saw thousands of twinkling stars. He had never seen anything so beautiful before!

"Oh, Kenny! I've never seen this many stars before, except in pictures." He clasped his hands together and smiled widely at the pretty sight.

"Yeah, it's really dark out here and there's no light pollution. So, you can see a lot of stars here." Kenny explained as he looked up also. He loved coming out to the roof every once in a while to clear his head, especially on bad days. Those days, he usually didn't visit anyone.

"Let's go over here." Kenny suggested, and he led Butters over to the end of the rooftop where there was high fencing. It was usually to prevent jumps but there had been patients who had climbed over it. Alright, well, one patient.

Kenny sat Butters down first against the fencing, even though Butters could see by now. He just liked Kenny helping him. Kenny sat down beside him afterward and crossed his legs. They both stared at the night sky for a long while before starting up another discussion. Well, Kenny started up another discussion. He had to tell Butters something.

"I was the 'dangerous patient' who made the alarm go off." He admitted.

"I figured."

He sharply turned his head toward Butters in surprise. He knew?

"You knew?"

"Well yeah, Kenny." Butters looked towards a shell-shocked Kenny, "Kyle told me some stuff about you; a-about how you're dangerous sometimes and that I should be careful." Butters swallowed a lump in his throat and looked down at his hands. He began to rub them together. "I-I don't know a whole lot about you, but you haven't done anything to me yet. I just don't understand why people would say that about you."

Kenny sighed. He wanted so badly to tell Butters the truth. He wanted to tell him about his power, to tell him that he didn't belong here; that he wasn't crazy. He couldn't, though. He couldn't tell Butters anything because he didn't want to scare the poor kid off. To be honest with himself, he had grown rather attached to the kid.

"I can tell you one thing Butters." He began. Butter looked up at him. "I have done things that...wasn't very good in retrospect, but I wasn't in the right mind at the time. There were reasons for it that I can't tell you right now." Butters frowned at this. Kenny felt even more guilty and rubbed his face, "I wish I could, Buttercup, but I can't." He dropped his hand into his lap and stared with a sullen expression. He didn't like lying to Butters, or hiding things from him. However, this was the best he could do right now.

"It's ok. I understand." Butters' voice sounded. This caused Kenny to look up at the blonde in slight awe.

"You do?" He asked.

"Yeah. I understand that we just met and you don't want to tell me everything yet." Well, that's not exactly right but... "A-And it's alright that you've done some bad things. We all do things we regret, don't we?" Kenny nodded. "You're not a bad person, Kenny. At least, I don't think so." Butters smiled kindly to Kenny, who returned it automatically.

"Thanks, Butters."

As soon as Kenny said those words, however, the elevator dinged and opened causing them to jump and face it.

A few doctors and nurses piled out of the brightly lit elevator, along with a few security guards. Oh shit. They all started looking around the roof, not having spotted them yet. Quickly, Kenny turned to Butters and grabbed his shoulders.

"Butters, I need you to listen to me." Butters nodded quickly. "Whatever you see, and whatever you hear, I want you to remember that I'll be alright." Kenny put his right hand on Butters' cheek. "I'll be back, ok?"

"What do you mean?" Butters' eyebrows furrowed as he eyed Kenny worriedly.

Kenny shook his head, "Don't worry about it. Just remember, ok?"

"Kenny! Come out with your hands up! Let the boy go unharmed, or else!" One of the security guards had spotted them. He yelled the command with a gun held up in front of him.

Both Kenny and Butters quickly stood. Kenny pushed Butters behind him, not wanting Butters to be shot, either on accident or on purpose. He yelled back to them, "I'll only give him back if you lower the gun!"

"Kenny-!"

"Lower the gun, you motherfucker!" Kenny screamed over the security guard, interrupting him.

The guard growled and looked toward the other guards. They all nodded to him, signaling that he should lower his gun. No use for innocents to get shot. He sighed heavily before lowering his gun to the ground. Behind him, Ms. Choksondik stepped forward.

"Alright, Kenny. He lowered the gun. Now let the boy go. No one needs to get hurt." She held out her arms as she said this. Kenny scoffed and looked behand him at Butters.

He looked frightened, poor kid. It's a good thing he won't remember any of this in a little while. "Go on, Butters."

"What about you?" Butters shot back at him, his voice shaking. He sounded like he was about to cry. He was very brave, Kenny thought.

"I told you, I'll be fine. Go with them." Kenny spoke in a calming voice. Butters looked like it calmed him down a little bit, but he still looked over to the group of people warily. He tightly shut his eyes and took a deep breath before walking over to them.

"Good boy." Kenny softly said to himself. He watched as Butters slowly walked over to Ms. Choksondik. Once he got there, the worried nurse gently grabbed his arm and tried to lead him away from the ambush. He just stopped and looked back to Kenny, not moving a muscle.

"Put your hands up, McCormick! Walk slowly to me and make no sudden movements or I will shoot."

"Come on, dear. You don't want to see this."

Kenny put his hand in the pocket of the scrub pants.

"McCormick, I will tell you once more. Put your hands up and walk over to me or I will shoot!"

Butters' eyes widened as Kenny pulled out an orange object from his pants.

"Butters, dear, come please."

Kenny slid the blade out from its sheath and held it to his neck.

"McCormick! Put the blade now, now!"

"Butters, let's go!" Choksondik pulled at Butters' arm to get him to move, but he wouldn't. He simply stared at Kenny as he held the exacto-knife to his throat.

"Kenny!" Butters yelled out to his friend.

Kenny smiled to Butters. In that smile held a hundred messages, but one message was clear to Butters. He would be alright.

That was when Kenny dug the blade into his jugular and pulled to the right.

The last thing Kenny heard was Butters' screaming.


	6. Out

Butters gasped and shot up from where he was laying on his bed. He was sweating bullets and shaking, terrified out of his mind. His wide eyes searched his dark room, although he could barely see anything. He instinctively searched for something to ground his shaken thoughts. When he felt he could move a bit, he looked down to where his barely visible hands were clutching his white blankets. His breathing slowed down some as he calmed himself. He swallowed a lump in his throat and took deep, unstable breaths through his nose and tried to gather his thoughts.

What had happened? Did he have a nightmare? He tried to recall any kind of imagery his mind could have conjured up while he was sleeping, but he couldn't remember a thing. Had it really been so terrible that it had caused him to wake in such a panic? Butters had never had such a terrible dream before that it would cause him to panic in such a way. He usually remembered at least something when he woke up, at least fleeting imagery that he could see. Now though…he remembered absolutely nothing. He blinked a few times and scrunched up his face in concentration, but his efforts were in vain. Nothing would come of it; he remembered nothing about the dream. To be completely honest with himself, he didn't like it. It gave him a weird feeling. He felt as if he should remember the dream. Something deep inside whispered to him desperately, saying he should remember…

What was it?

He shook his head. This was only making him upset and, as he looked over toward the window, thought it looked really late. It was very dark outside and only a little moonlight was shining through. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the scarce lighting, he could see more of the dark room. He looked around, this time without panic. All he saw was creepy shadows and movements at the corner of his eye. He moaned a little and flopped back down on his bed, pulling the covers over his head. Maybe one day he would get over his fear of the dark, but apparently that was not the day. He continued to lay there and tried to will himself to sleep.

It didn't seem like it was too long until he opened his eyes, when in reality it was hours. He had fallen into an extremely light sleep. He felt as if his eyes had bags under them and there was a slight pressure behind them. Butters squeezed his eyes shut to try to relieve the pressure but it didn't help any. He supposed that's what he got for not sleeping right. He breathed in deeply and sighed loudly. His body just felt very tired. He didn't understand though, he hadn't done anything strenuous. Was he coming down with something? Should he go to the nurses’ office and have them give him a checkup? He supposed that's what he should do but he just didn't feel like getting up.

Butter spent an extra half an hour just resting in bed. He didn't think about anything, he didn't worry about anything. He just lied there with his eyes closed and suffered through the headache that was starting to rage inside his head. It wasn't too bad so maybe he could get through it without a nurse’s help. He had to get up eventually, though. Someone was bound to look for him and he might get in trouble for being a lazy bum. Butters’ parents would certainly do that. They would rush into his room and demand to know why he wasn't awake yet, inevitably worsening his headache and his mood. He would certainly get grounded for it.

Maybe he could wait a little longer though.

* * *

 

Kyle pushed his scrambled eggs around his breakfast plate. He wasn't particularly hungry that morning as he felt a little nauseous. This always happened when he started taking his medicine again. It was a common side effect and it would wear off eventually, but it was always the worst part about starting up his antidepressants again. Other side effects included fatigue, drowsiness, incontinence, irritability, anxiety, and constipation. The last of which he was experiencing frequently.

“Hey, Jew! Are you listening to me or not?”

There would be the reason for the other half of the side effects. Kyle sighed and turned to face the giant nuisance that was Eric Cartman.

“What?”

Cartman took one long look at him before glaring at him, “Are you fucking serious? You're taking that shit again?” Cartman spat out in annoyance.

“I don't know what you're talking about, Cartman.” Kyle rested his head on his left hand while he stared at the angered man from the corner of his eye.

“You're taking that depressant crap again, aren't you?” Cartman waved his hand in a gesturing motion toward Kyle. “You know what that shit does to you.” Kyle knew exactly what ‘that shit’ did to him, but he knew the effects would wear off soon. Cartman’s concern, albeit misguided, was rather appreciated nonetheless.

Kyle blinked slowly at the man beside him, his vision going slightly blurry. Great, another side effect to add to the list. “I appreciate the concern, Eric, but I'll be fine.”

Cartman scoffed and turned away, “Fine. Don't come whining to me when it all comes back to bite you in the ass.”

Kyle rolled his eyes and looked away, annoyed at the antics of his friend. That was when he noticed that someone was missing from the table. He lifted his head from his hand and looked around the cafeteria. Where was he?

“Hey, has anyone seen Butters?” Kyle questioned the rest of the table. They all faced him and looked around at each other.

“I don't think he even came out of his room.” Said Token, who was actually two doors down from Butters’ room.

“You don't think that Kenny went in there and…you know,” Clyde made a cutting motion across his neck and made a hissing noise.

“Shut the fuck up, Clyde. God, I swear you're retarded sometimes.” Cartman yelled at Clyde.

“Only sometimes?” Clyde smiled at that.

Cartman only sneered at him.

Kyle rolled his eyes and got up from the table, “I'm going to look for him. You guys can stay here and flirt.” Kyle walked away, hearing groans and ‘Aw gross!’

As soon as Kyle left the cafeteria however, he heard the door slam open behind him. He stopped and turned to see Cartman stalking up behind him. “I thought you were going to stay.”

“As if I'd stay with those losers.” He passed Kyle and walked further down the hallway, “Let's just go check on the little fag.”

Kyle and Cartman walked down the hallway together in relative silence. It didn't take very long to reach Butters’ room as the walk was quite short. They paused in front of the doorway and stared it down, as if they were facing a portal into the unknown. Which was a ridiculous comparison, because it was just Butters’ room. The boy was about as ominous as a puppy chasing its own tail. Which is to say, not at all.

“So, are we going in or what?” Voiced an annoyed Cartman.

Kyle shook his head and grabbed the doorknob. He twisted it and pushed.

Inside, he saw a stark white room that had yet to be decorated like Butters had said he would do. Kyle swept his eyes over the room until they landed on the bed. He walked closer, with Cartman close behind, until he had reached it. On top was a bunched up blanket, seemingly with a body underneath. Kyle looked back toward Cartman, who shrugged and gestured toward the mass. Kyle looked back and reached toward the end of it and touched it. He touched what felt to be a leg. So, Butters was under there after all.

He started to gently shake the lump under the sheets, “Hey, Butters. Dude, wake up.” He waited a moment before moving up further. Kyle reached over to where he thought Butters’ shoulders should have been. He continued to shake Butters and call out to him to no avail. It seemed he just wasn't waking up.

“Here, let me try.” Cartman pushed Kyle out of the way before ripping the blankets away from where Butters had himself covered.

“Cartman, don't be so rough. He might be sick.”

“Oh, shut it. I'll be gentle.” Cartman leaned over the unconscious boy to get a look at his face. He was sleeping soundly, but he had a layer of sweat over his face that could be seen shining in the light that was filtering through the window. Cartman leaned back and proceeded to shake his shoulder and call out to him, “Hey, butt face, wake the fuck up. You have company here.”

Kyle scoffed behind him and crossed his arms over his chest, “Yeah, that's real gentle, Cartman. Good job.”

“Shut the fuck up, Jew!” Cartman shouted.

“I would if you weren't so-“

“Please be quiet!” Voiced a pained Butters from the bed.

Kyle and Cartman ceased their argument and rushed over to the boy. Butters was clutching his head and breathing heavily. He had even more sweat on his face than before, Cartman noticed. He looked really sick.

“Shit, Butters, we’re sorry.” Kyle sat on the side of the bed, “What's wrong with you? Are you feeling alright?”

Butters moaned, not really wanting to answer. “My head.” He said simply. He clutched his head harder and gritted his teeth. He had fallen back asleep earlier when his headache was a little more than a dull pain. Now, however, it had intensified and his head felt like it was going to explode from the inside. Coupled with the fact that he was burning up and felt like he was inside of an oven. Of course, he couldn't voice any of this to Kyle or Cartman, his tongue felt dry and tied up. Then, Butters felt a hand sliding over his forehead.

“You're really burning up.” Kyle stated, as if Butters didn't know already, “Cartman, go get Stan. He should be here for his shift now.”

Butters heard Cartman mutter something and walk out of the room. He heard the door shut and, as soon as it did, Butters flinched in pain. He moaned and whined, curling in on himself while sliding his head further into his arms.

“Butters, don't worry. Stan will be here soon.” Kyle put his hand on Butters’ shoulder, “He’ll make you better, I promise.” Kyle rubbed the sick boy’s shoulder, which was drenched with sweat. His whole shirt was practically soaked through. Beneath his hand, he felt Butters shake and shutter at the pain going on in his body. Kyle felt helpless as he watched his new friend cry out in agony, as well as shed some tears, as his head throbbed. He could only wait until Stan arrived with what ever medicines he brought with him.

As soon as that thought passed, the door opened behind Kyle. He looked over to see Cartman leading Stan into the room. “Stan…”

Stan rushed over to Kyle and Butters’ side. He kneeled beside the bed and felt Butters’ head. Once he felt how hot he was, Stan clicked his tongue and pulled a thermometer out of his pocket. He pulled off the cap and began to speak in soft tones, “Butters, I need to take your temperature. Can you open your mouth for me?”

Butters moaned slightly, but he did as he was asked. This prompted Stan to stick the device in his mouth and under his tongue. Now they just had to wait for a moment. Stan stood up and turned to face Kyle and Cartman, who had moved to Kyle’s side.

“What happened here?” Stan asked them.

“We just found him like this. He was complaining about his head hurting and then I told Cartman to go and get you.” Kyle answered.

Stan nodded and looked toward Butters, who had his eyes closed but was obviously still listening. “Well, it's obvious he has a fever. I just need to know how bad it is before we do anything.”

“Uh, well, it's obviously pretty fucking bad if he's in that much pain.” Cartman felt the need to point out. He did have a point though, Kyle thought.

Stan ignored the rudeness and continued on, “I'd just like to know how high his fever is. Hopefully it's not so high that he'd have to go to the hospital.” It was after this statement that the thermometer beeped. He bent down to retrieve it.

Stan sighed in relief, “It's only 103.” He stuck the device back into his pocket, which couldn't be sanitary. “He can stay here. I'll go get him some migraine meds. You guys watch him until I get back.” Stan then walked out of the room and softly closed the door behind him.

Kyle watched Stan leave as he settled back on the bed beside Butters. He sighed heavily before looking back at the sickly blonde, “This sucks.” He muttered to himself.

Cartman heard him, though. He glanced over at Kyle, and then to Butters. He had to agree with the Jew. This did suck, extremely. He didn't want to be stuck here taking care of a kid he didn't care anything about. However…he was Kyle's friend. Cartman supposed it wouldn't hurt to at least stay and see what would happen. Perhaps this was the start of a zombie apocalypse and he would be the main character. Yeah, and then when the fairy over there woke up, he would start biting and growling his way over to Kyle, trying to eat him.

Then Kyle would freak out and say, ‘Oh no! My little fag of a friend turned into a zombie! Cartman, save me!’

Then Cartman would pose heroically and grab the stupid day walker in his arms and they would-

Wait, what? What was he thinking about? What was he going to say? He could feel his face slowly turning into a frown as he thought about what was going to come next. His train of thought was broken when he heard Kyle suddenly gasp and shout his name.

“Cartman! Butters passed out. I can't get him to wake up!”

Cartman blinked and looked over to Kyle. He was hunched over Butters’ body, who hadn't moved an inch since Cartman had looked at him.

“Let me look at him.” Cartman said as he moved over to the bed. He kneeled beside Kyle and looked over Butters. He moved his arms out of the way then lifted his eyelids to check his eyes. They were rolled back and his pupils were dilated. He was definitely out cold. He must have passed out from the pain.

“Shit. What do we do? I should get Stan.” Kyle was about to stand when Cartman grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. “Ack, what the hell!?” Kyle yelled as he pulled his arm from Cartman's grasp.

“I'll go get him. You just stay here and make sure he doesn't vomit on himself.” Cartman smirked, “Besides, I have longer legs. I can get him quicker.” His face was rather close to Kyle's. He could feel Kyle's rapid breathing on his face. He didn't brush his teeth.

Kyle glared at him, “Screw you. Just get him and hurry back.” He sat back on the floor and crossed his legs, leaning forward to rest his head on the bed. He stared at Butters unblinkingly, taking his job very seriously.

Cartman rolled his eyes and got up to leave the room. He paused at the door to look back at the red head. Seeing the stupidly serious expression on his face made Cartman scoff. He only stayed for one more second before walking through the door.

Kyle just laid there with his head cushioned against his arms. He sighed and frowned at the unconscious face that belonged to his friend. He really hoped that Butters wasn't too sick. What could he have possibly come down with? He had only been there for a few days. The center was practically sterile considering it was kind of a hospital. Kyle couldn't help but think of the worst sicknesses he could have gotten. The flu, measles, meningitis, strep throat…none of those made sense though. He was just naming off illnesses as he wasn't exactly a doctor. He was hoping Stan would come back and tell them what he had. He just really wanted his friend to get better. It was pretty hard to see this sweet kid in pain like that.

It wasn't long until something happened. At first, it was just a little whine and a twitch of an eye lid, something someone could pass off as just dreaming. Then the noises increased in volume until Kyle got a little anxious. Was Butters waking up? He looked closer at the boy as he both waited for for Butters to return to the waking world.

His eyes slowly opened, unfocused at first. Soon, they zeroed in on the young ginger staring worriedly at him. Kyle looked him over a few times before breaking the silence.

“Butters, are you ok?” Kyle's eyebrows furrowed in worry as he looked over his friends face. He didn't seem to be in pain anymore as he was looking at the older boy with slight wonder.

Butters groaned and tried to sit up, but Kyle quickly intervened to help him. Butters flinched, but let him do it anyway. As soon as he was up, he rubbed his head and looked around the room as if he didn't know where he was. He looked to Kyle with a worried and terrified expression.

“Where am I?” He asked in the slight southern accent that he's always had. However, it sounded slightly different. Had his voice gotten higher?

Kyle's eyes widened, but he answered his question, “You're in your room, Butters. Do you not remember anything?” Kyle asked, his hand on Butters’ shoulder. Had his headache really been that terrible?

Butters frowned very deeply as he looked toward the boy in front of him. He shook his head slowly and said, “My name isn't Butters. My name is Marjorine.”

* * *

Coming to Damien's place was probably the worst thing he could have done. Never in his entire semi-immortal life had he ever been so annoyed at his friend and…other friend? Damien's friend? His lover? Why was Pip even here? As far as Kenny was aware, he hadn't done anything to warrant being sent to Hell. At least, he had never been made aware of it. Pip seemed like a regular (albeit, more than slightly annoying) guy. His entire presence in Hell didn't make any sense.

“Surely there is a better way than this, Damien! I can't bare to see them suffer.” Said the boy in question, his accent making its way into Kenny's ears. It was very grating, especially with the mood he was in.

“Well, tough titties. I don't know if you know this, but those guys are convicted rapists. You really want to let them roam free without any repercussions at all?” Damien leaned over the black marble counter and into Pip’s face. He stared unblinkingly into the deep and dark depths that was Pip’s very being.

Pip blinked at the son of Satan and frowned, “Why would they do that?” He asked, very innocently. Yes, that deep dark soul. A puddle on blacktop road after a light drizzle.

Damien leaned back, sighed, and put his head in his hands. He was tired of dealing with this kid. He really didn't ever think he would have to explain the evils of the world to an eighteen year old. Damien rubbed his face and eyes, hard. He was beginning to form a headache. Speaking of headaches…

“Kenny, what are you staring at?” Damien heard Pip ask their guest. He had almost forgotten about him. Well, alright, he had forgotten about him. With Pip annoying him with endless stupid questions he had completely forgotten the halfling in place of arguing with Pip. Damien lifted his head and turned to face the young blonde. He was, indeed, staring at something. However, what ever he was staring at was in his own head. In fact, he wasn't answering Pip’s question.

Damien sat up and cranked his leg back. He aimed carefully, not wanting to miss. Then, suddenly…

“ARGH!” Damien unleashed his leg muscles upon his victim, sending him hurdling toward the floor. Essentially, Damien kicked Kenny off of his bar stool.

“You black asshole! What the fucking fuck was that for!?” Kenny groaned as he laid on the floor, rubbing at the back of his head where a bump would surely grow.

“Ignoring people isn't very nice, McCormick. I suggest you pay attention next time.”

“We’re in Hell, you cunt. Ain't nothing nice here.” Kenny climbed back up on the stool, though with a little difficulty. He was assaulted after all.

“Hm. Regardless, it would benefit you to be more attentive.” Damien smirked at him. That cock sucker. He had the lips for it too. Oh wait, that's not a very good thought to have for the literal son of Satan.

Kenny glared, “Screw you, I do what I want.”

“Oh, Kenny, what has gotten you in such a mood? I've never seen you so irritable before.” Pip chimed in, pointing out Kenny’s obvious terrible mood. Well, Jesus, where to start?

“Well, I don't know Pip. Maybe I've been stuck here for the last five and half hours listening to you two whiners argue about absolutely nothing. I want to go back to Earth. I have a headache that feels like I've been shot in the head; and Satan knows I know how that feels like!” Kenny slammed his hands on the countertop. Pip flinched while Damien continued staring with a passive, yet contemplative, expression. Kenny stood, knocking the bar stool to the floor, and walked to the window that overlooked the fiery wasteland that was Hell. “All of that piled on top of this shit situation! If I wasn't so drugged out of my mind back on Earth, I probably wouldn't have…” Kenny deflated. He was just suddenly so tired.

He was tired of being labeled as a crazy psychopath by everyone who knew him. He was so sick of those nurses and doctors who never believed him when he told them he had died before, right in front of them even. They never remembered, though. They never remembered his insane parkour stunts that have gotten him killed on numerous occasions. They never remembered the times he stockpiled all of the pills they ever gave him for a week straight. They never remembered that he took all of them at once, inevitably overdosing himself and giving himself seizures, internal bleeding, and heart attacks. They never remembered any of it. Every time he died, everyone seemed to get sudden amnesia and the events that lead to his death…had never happened. He always remembered, though. The pain that went along with the suicides he remembered the most. Some days, while he was sitting in Hell and reminiscing on his adventures when he was alive, it was all he could think about. He hated the pain, he hated that he felt like he had to kill himself. He also hated that that place made him feel that way, that suicide was the only way out. Except it wasn't; it never was. He would only wake up in the same bed in his assigned room several hours later. He only ever got a reprieve from the center for a little while. He always went back though; always.

Damien sighed behind him. Kenny heard him get off the bar stool and walk toward him. He felt a hand on his shoulder; Damien's hand. It squeezed a bit before letting go, “Perhaps things might change for the better.”

Kenny turned toward the demon spawn and looked at him questioningly, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Damien shrugged and gestured to Kenny's body, “You'll find out soon enough.”

Kenny looked down at his torso. He saw it shimmering and becoming increasingly transparent. He was going back. He looked back up at the weird pair. Damien had backed away from Kenny and Pip had come up beside him. The blonde stood there smiling and waving, “Good luck, Ken!” He said in that oh so proper accent.

In that moment, Kenny remembered a very important someone. A very buttery someone.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up in his bed. He was back in the center.


	7. Marjorine

"What did you say?" Kyle asked the blonde in front of him. He blinked his widened eyes. Surely he had heard wrong.

"I…I'm…" The confused boy stuttered, unable to form a sentence. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Kyle, who was still seated on the floor beside the bed. He seemed to be taking in Kyle's presence, as if he didn't know why he was there or what was happening.

Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped inside his head, the boy's facial features hardened as he began to glare at Kyle. Startled by the sudden switch, Kyle leaned away from who he though was Butters.

"Butters, what are you-" Kyle began to speak, but was interrupted by a swift kick to the chest.

The breath was knocked out of him by the kick as he fell backwards onto his back. He cursed out loud, grabbing his chest as he sat back up to face his abuser.

"What the fuck, Butters?!" He screamed in anger as he watched his, apparently out of his mind, friend swiftly get up from the bed and stand over Kyle with threatening body posture and clutched fists. Kyle looked up at him, amazed and slightly frightened as Butters looked a little scary when he was angry.

"What have you done?!" Butters demanded, pointing at Kyle with an accusing finger.

Kyle, confused and a little hurt, scrunched his face in confusion, "What are you talking about, Butters?"

"I told you, my name isn't Butters! It's Marjorine!" She redirected her pointing finger to her own chest as she revealed this fact to Kyle, once again. "What I want to know is what you did to Butters to make me even come out!"

Kyle only stared at 'Marjorine' while he processed what was just said. He studied 'her' angered face as he came to a conclusion.

"Oh, I get it," Kyle rolled his eyes as he started to stand, "Is this why you were sent here? Fucking Dissociative Identity Disorder?" When he stood, he brushed his pants off as if there were dirt on them, even though there probably wasn't. He then looked up at his friend's body to face off with this Marjorine identity. "Tell me something, Marjorine. Why do you think you're here?"

"Don't you dare try to psycho analyze me, like you think you know anything. You aren't a fucking psychiatrist, so don't act like it!"

"Jesus Christ, you're angry." Kyle rested his hand on his hip. "What, are you on your imaginary period?"

"Shut the fuck up. Now for the last time," Marjorine stepped closer, glaring at Kyle with all the hate she could apparently muster, "What. Have. You. Done?"

Kyle crossed his arms and stood taller, squaring his shoulders. He felt like this personality, even while in Butters' body, could do some serious damage if it were to really try. Kyle felt like he had to show it that he wasn't afraid. Otherwise, it could lash out as it seemed the personality was really angry with him; or rather, whatever brought it out.

"What ever you think I've done, I can assure you I haven't done a thing." Kyle said with as much honesty as he could. This seemed to make Marjorine look at him differently. Although still in his face, and still angry, her glare lessened. "Butters was in pain we found him. He had a migraine. One of the nurses here went to go get him some medicine. In fact," Kyle loosened his stance, "My friend and the nurse should be back soon."

That was when Marjorine completely backed off, "Nurse?" She questioned. That was when she really took a look at her surroundings. She looked all around the room; the bed, the wardrobe, all four walls, and the window. The last she rushed over toward to look out of. She put her hands on the glass and practically pressed her face into it, trying to take in all of the surrounding land. She saw a lot of trees and parking lot off to the side. Once she felt she was finished, she turned toward Kyle, who was watching her carefully.

"Where are we?" Marjorine asked.

"Hell's Pass Psychiatric Center." Kyle answered.

"But…why?" Marjorine looked out of the window once again, not wanting to face Kyle. "Why is Butters here?"

"Good question. I'm guessing you're the reason."

"But I can't be. That doesn't make any sense."

Kyle uncrossed his arms, "What do you mean? Of course it does. You don't think it's weird to other people to have a second personality inside of you?"

Marjorine shook her head, "No, I've never shown myself." She turned around once again and stared at Kyle insistently. "I've never let other people know I was here. Butters doesn't even know I'm here."

Kyle shrugged his shoulders, "Somebody must have known. His parents sent him here for him to 'get better'." Kyle used his fingers as quotes when he referred to what Butters had said to him before in conversation.

"Our parents? Oh, no fucking wonder." Marjorine suddenly exclaimed, throwing her hands up in anger. "Of course they would do something like that! Why am I not even surprised?" She crossed her arms across her chest and angrily stared out of the window.

As soon as she finished her outburst, Kyle caught on to something she said, "Wait a minute, what do you mean by that?"

"By what?"

"You said 'our parents'. You think you're Butters' sister?"

Marjorine scoffed and laughed, though nothing about this was funny. "No, fool." She faced Kyle once more. "I am Butters' sister."

Kyle's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he heard what was just said, "…What?"

Before anything more could be said, the door opened to reveal Stan and Cartman walking through. They seemed to be having a small conversation as they opened the door, but stopped upon seeing Butters standing by the window.

"Oh, you're awake?" Stan asked first. He walked further into the room, setting a box of pills on the table at the foot of the bed. Cartman walked in after him all the while staring at Butters suspiciously. He crept up behind Kyle and slapped his shoulder with the back of his hand. Kyle sneered at him and rubbed the assaulted area.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Cartman nodded toward the boy who was intensely glaring at Cartman as if the man had threatened his well being.

"He's…uh…" Kyle reached up to rub the back of his neck. He didn't really know how to explain Butters' sudden change in personality.

"Alright, I have your medicine ready, Butters. If you're ready to take it, that is." Stan unknowingly interrupted the conversation. Butters, or Marjorine rather, turned his head to look at the nurse with kinder eyes than what she had been looking at Cartman with.

She smiled bashfully, which Kyle noticed was a lot like Butters' smile, "N-no. That's alright. I think I feel a little better now."

Kyle's mouth dropped open at the blatant lying and impersonation being done, coming out of Butters mouth no less. This personality has some serious balls; both literally and figuratively.

Stan nodded and gathered the pills he had taken out of the package, two of them, and a cup of water. He then walked over toward Butters' body. Stan tried to hand the pills over, "At least take them. If you get a headache again, it won't hurt as much."

Marjorine looked to the pills and back to Stan a few times, once to Kyle and Cartman, then back to the pills. She smiled a little and took the pills and a small cup of water from Stan. Stan smiled back and waited. Marjorine bit her lip, obviously thinking Stan was going to leave after that. Behind Stan, Kyle smirked and raised an eyebrow. Marjorine narrowed her eyes a bit before returning her gaze to the pills. She took a deep breath and popped the pills in her mouth before chugging back the water.

Stan, in all his obliviousness, didn't notice Butters' reluctant behavior. Instead, he nodded with satisfaction and walked back across the room to collect his things. "Let me know if you need anything else. I'll let the rest of the nursing staff know you're sick, so if you can't find me, you can go to one of them." He stuffed the pill box into his pocket. Once he reached the door, he turned one last time before leaving, "Oh, and Kyle?"

Kyle turned to Stan, "Yeah?"

"Your meds will be ready in an hour."

Kyle nodded and rubbed his arm nervously, "Alright, thanks. I'll take them then."

"Ok, I'll see you." Stan walked out, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as Stan left, the kindness melted off of Butters' face, thus returning to Marjorine's…less than savory attitude. Lifting the small plastic cup to her face, she spit out the two pills that Stan had given her.

"What the fuck? Those are supposed to be for your headache." Kyle immediately noticed what she did.

Marjorine turned to Kyle with a deadpanned expression. She then huffed, turned around to the window, opened it, and proceeded to toss the cup and the pills out the window. She watched them flutter down to the ground. When that was done, she closed the window and turned back toward Kyle with her hands on her hips.

"I'm not the one with the headache."

Kyle growled, having just about enough of her attitude. "You know what?!"

Cartman, having long since walked off, sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hand. He watched as they argued back and forth. He wasn't really sure why they were arguing or why all of the sudden Butters' very buttery personality had suddenly morphed into a spicy one, but he liked it. It was better than the other one. Plus, this Butters was by far more entertaining. He smirked, thinking about all the fun he could have with this.

"I can't even believe this! I find this extremely hard to believe you're one of Butters' personalities!" Cartman perked up at that. Personalities? What did Kyle mean by that?

Butters laughed so hard he bent over, clutching his knees. Eventually, his laughter died down and he stood straight again. He wiped a slight tear that had formed in his eye as he faced Kyle again. "You don't understand. I don't blame you, either." Butters raised his hands up and shrugged. "It's not something you could figure out on your own."

"What the hell are you talking about? You aren't making sense."

"Of course I am. You just don't-"

"Blah blah, fucking blah. Why don't you just get to the god damn point!" Cartman suddenly spoke up from his sitting position. Both Kyle and Butters turned to him in surprise, completely forgetting he was there at all. Butters seemed slightly more surprised than Kyle.

"Who are you?" Butters asked rudely.

"Who are you?" Cartman shot back at him. Seriously, who was this? This obviously wasn't the prissy little faggamuffin that had come to the center only a couple of days prior.

Kyle sighed, feeling tired from all of the recent events. "Cartman, Marjorine. Marjorine, Cartman." He pointed to each of them as he introduced them.

"Marjorine? Is he a trans-sexual now?"

Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose, "God damn it, Cartman. I know you're not that stupid."

Cartman merely shrugged and stood. He stretched his arms above his head, his shirt riding up a little. "Well, I guess the only thing to do would be to turn this little shit in." He said as he scratched his side.

"Turn me in? Are you kidding me?" Marjorine cried out. She looked to both of them as they stared at each other, obviously ignoring her.

Kyle sighed and crossed his arms tightly across his stomach, thinking deeply about what Cartman just said. He paced across the room, biting his lip, tearing loose skin off. Of course it would be a good idea to turn Marjorine in. However, Butters was his friend. Butters was very kind and a good kid, he wouldn't last on any of the other floors. All the other crazies would tear him a brand new asshole; somewhere else on his body.

Kyle stopped his pacing near the door, dropping his arms. Clutching his fists, he turned toward Cartman, "I can't do that. I've been to the third floor and you know what the fourth is like." Kyle shook his head. "Butters wouldn't stand a chance in there."

Cartman sighed and rolled his eyes. "Are you seriously saying we have to be stuck with…this?!" He waved his hand in Marjorine's general direction.

"Hey!"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying, Cartman. Look," Kyle walked up toward Cartman, grabbing his head to Kyle's level. Angling them away from Marjorine, he whispered, "Butters is my friend. This," His eyes darted in Marjorine's direction, "Can't last long. Marjorine is sure to go back inside his head some time." Kyle moved his hand down over Cartman's cheek. "We need to watch him until then. Can you do that?"

Cartman moved his jaw side to side clacking his teeth together, not liking this plan. He really didn't want to have to babysit an insane little butt fucker. However…he sighed, Kyle WAS asking him nicely. On the other hand…

"If I do this, will you suck my balls?"

Immediately, Cartman recognized his mistake because a slightly stinging cheek was all that was left of Kyle's presence.

* * *

The rest of the morning and some of the afternoon was spent trying to keep the Marjorine personality out of trouble. Kyle and Cartman both watched as she interacted with other patients and doctors, trying to pass off as Butters. It was a little weird to see because, to them, it was so obviously not Butters that it was hard to believe anyone at all bought it. During lunch, when they all sat at their usual table, Marjorine instigated a lot of the conversation while Kyle and Cartman watched on.

"I think I liked the third season better. It had a lot of character development for Bash and he wasn't as annoying as he was." Marjorine pointed out.

"You haven't seen anything yet! The latest season is just a blatant rehash of the second season." Clyde said, half of his body on the table as he leaned over to who he thought was Butters. He seemed so into the conversation that it looked like he had forgotten about the rest of his friends at the table.

"Oh really?" Marjorine questioned. Kyle looked on as he saw her lean forward and smile at Clyde, "You'll have to show me. When do new episodes come out again?"

Kyle's eyes widened when he saw a light pink color come across Clyde's face, "F-Fridays. They come out on Friday." Clyde stuttered.

"Oh Jesus," Kyle suddenly stood up from the table and walked around to Marjorine's side, "Hey, Butters?" Kyle braced his hands on the table as he addressed her. Marjorine turned, narrowing her eyes as she saw who was speaking to her, "Can I talk to you outside for a moment?"

"Uh…"

"Now, please." Kyle grabbed her upper arm and quickly dragged her out of the cafeteria, leaving behind a flabbergasted Clyde.

Cartman, feeling slightly left behind, also rose from the table. As he did so, he felt a bunch of eyes on him. He turned to the rest of the table where everyone stared at him, questioning him with their eyes.

"Stop staring, it's fucking rude!" He yelled at them.

They all resumed their regular activities.

As soon as Cartman exited the cafeteria, he looked over the length of the hallway. He didn't see the Jew or the confused blonde. He huffed and pouted, clearly a little miffed they just left him. That was until he heard voices coming from around the corner. He raised an eyebrow and proceeded to follow the voices. As he got closer to the end of the hallway, it became clear that the voices belonged to Kyle and Marjorine.

"Look, I don't think it's a good idea to flirt with the patients here." He heard Kyle say. Cartman reached the corner, rounded it, and saw Kyle with his hand on his hip and Marjorine looking like a pouting teenager leaning on the wall that was being forced to listen to their parent's lecture.

"You can't blame me, though. This is the first time I've ever been allowed out!" Marjorine argued, waving her arms around in an attempt to make a point. "This entire time I've lived through Butters' eyes. I've only ever seen what he's seen." Marjorine sobbed, covering her face with her hands. Kyle dropped his hands and looked off to the side. He saw Cartman standing there, not at all surprised. He lifted his hand to wave a bit at Cartman before turning back to the sobbing blonde. She continued to speak through her hands, "I love my brother and I want him to live a normal life too. That doesn't mean that I don't wish that for myself sometimes."

Cartman stepped up beside Kyle and leaned his arm on his shoulder. Kyle didn't bother to push him off as he was too busy feeling sorry for this personality of Butters'. He shouldn't really feel any pity for it because it wasn't real, but hell, Kyle was human. Of course he would feel pity for another being.

Cartman, on the other hand, felt nothing of the sort. This thing inside Butters was nothing but an inconvenience and he wished it would just go away already. Perhaps a nice, hard smack to the back of the head would do the trick. Though, Kyle would probably yell at him and have him sent back to the fourth floor, so it would only be a fantasy for now.

Kyle finally sighed and knocked Cartman's arm off of his shoulder. He walked over to Marjorine and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Marjorine, I understand what you're you're saying, but this body isn't yours. You have to give it back."

"You don't think I've been trying?!" Marjorine shouted, uncovering her face. "I've been trying to get him back all damn day, and I haven't been able to. He's…" She sighed and looked down, "He's somewhere in the back. I don't know how to explain, but I can't reach him."

Kyle looked startled at this information. He looked over to Cartman, who shrugged. Neither of them knew what to do. This situation was getting more and more serious as time went on.

"Perhaps…Perhaps we should tell someone." Kyle suggested.

"But you said-" Marjorine started.

"I know what I said, but I don't think we can handle this. At least not by ourselves." He stared hard at Marjorine, trying to communicate the seriousness of the problem. "We need a therapist or a psychiatrist."

Marjorine shook her head vigorously and backed away from Kyle, "No, no, that's not the problem here!" With her fists tightened around each other, she looked at each of the boys with alarm. "You don't understand!"

"What the fuck don't we understand? You said that before but you never elaborated!" Cartman chimed in.

"I…I'm," She took a deep breath to steady herself for what she was about to say. Marjorine straightened, and with a determined voice she said, "I'm a spirit."

Everything was quiet for a moment. The only sounds that could be heard were the echoes of talking patients coming from the cafeteria, the squeaks of sneakers off in the distance on the linoleum, and…Cartman's booming laugh.

"Are you serious?!" He was on his hands and knees struggling to breathe as the two onlookers sneered at him in contempt. "This…this is the most hilarious thing I've ever heard!" Tears were coming out of eyes as he laughed. He tried to wipe them away, but they kept coming.

Kyle attempted to ignore the fat bastard, "I really think we-"

"HAHAHA-He…He thinks he's…BAHAHAHA!"

"We should just-"

"HE THINKS HE'S A SPOOKY GHOST!"

"GOD DAMN IT, CARTMAN! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Kyle screamed before kicking the laughing asshole in the ribs.

"OUCH! YOU FUCKING JEWISH PRICK!" Cartman, now curled in on his side on the floor, screamed at the Jew.

Kyle growled at him in frustration before turning back to Marjorine, who looked more than upset. She scratched at her upper arm and looked at her sneakers. Kyle sighed before trying to address her again.

"Marjorine-"

"Save it. I don't want to hear it." She held hand up, stopping Kyle. "Thanks for your help, Kyle, but I'll just handle this on my own."

Marjorine walked around Kyle and sped off down the hallway toward her room.

Kyle was about to run off after her, but thought better of it and stopped. In a sudden rage he stomped his foot on the floor and whirled around to face Cartman, who was still curled on the floor, watching him silently.

"What the hell was that?! Why did you do that?!" Kyle yelled and pointed in the direction Marjorine ran off.

"How the hell do you expect me to believe any of this, Kahl?" Cartman retaliated, getting up off the floor and brushing off his clothes. Staff need to sweep the hallway more. "All of this sounds like a load of horse semen."

"Well, even if it sounds like it to you, you don't need to be laughing at people like that. Where the fuck do you think we are?" Kyle spread his arms out to show him just where they were.

Cartman shook his head and crossed his arms. "I know where we are, Kyle."

Kyle dropped his arms, "Then why?"

Cartman clicked his tongue while he looked away. "I don't need to explain myself to you." He really didn't. Not to Cartman anyway. They would just get into another fight.

Kyle opened his mouth to reply, but instead…he didn't. He shut his mouth for once. This got Cartman's attention and he looked back. Kyle just looked…disappointed.

"You know…I thought you were getting better, but maybe I was wrong." Kyle shook his head and looked down to the floor. He stood there for another second before turning around and walking down the hallway.

Cartman only stood there, shocked into silence. Kyle thought he was getting better? Why the hell would he think that? There wasn't any evidence to such a claim. His tendencies were still there, as always. He would never get rid of them in a million years.

For some reason, though, he felt like Kyle's words meant something.

* * *

Kyle ran down the hallway, trying to get to Butters' room fast. He wanted to apologize for Cartman's rude behavior. He absolutely hated seeing that destroyed face on Butters' body. It felt like a sin to get Butters upset in even the slightest way. He didn't deserve that, whether it was Marjorine or not. He couldn't let this one go.

Eventually, he reached the room. As he slowed to a walk and approached the door, he saw Marjorine simply standing at the entrance, very still. Slowly, as to not startle her, he crept up to her and spoke in a soft voice.

"Marjorine?"

She quickly put a hand up, silencing Kyle. She then turned to him, putting a finger to her lips signaling Kyle to be quiet.

"There's someone in here. It doesn't feel right." She whispered.

Kyle's eyes widened in surprise, "Seriously?"

Marjorine nodded. She waved her hand forward as she started creeping inside the room. Kyle followed close behind her.

Their eyes swept over the room as they looked around the room, trying to look for this mysterious intruder that Marjorine insisted was there. Kyle looked inside the bathroom while Marjorine looked under the bed. They both came back back together in the middle of the room to show they hadn't found anything. They kept quiet the entire time, but searched every inch of the room that they could. In the end, it amounted to nothing.

Kyle approached the wardrobe last. As he opened it he spoke to Marjorine, "I think you're probably just being paranoid-"

"Kyle, watch out!" Marjorine screamed.

"What-" Was the only thing Kyle could get out before he was tackled to the ground by a body coming out of the wardrobe. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Aww, you aren't Butters." Said the stranger.

Kyle struggled to push away the assailant until he head the voice and looked up. Last the hood on top of his head, he saw the stranger's face, "Kenny?"

Kenny smiled down at the red head, "Hey, sexy. Miss me?"

Kyle scoffed and started pushing against Kenny's chest, "Get the hell off of me, you creep."

Kenny only laughed before getting up off of his friend. He straightened his clothes before reaching down to help Kyle up. He gratefully accepted the help.

"Can anybody explain this to me?" Marjorine voiced from where she was standing by the wall, far away from Kenny and Kyle. More specifically, Kenny.

Kenny looked up from what he was doing. Right then, his entire face lit up in happiness as he started toward Marjorine, "Butters, am I glad to see you."

"D-Don't come near me!" She shouted. She held her hands up in front of her and shook her head, warding off Kenny.

Kenny stopped immediately, smile dropping off his face. "What?"

Kyle slapped his hand over his face. Of course, Marjorine wouldn't know Kenny, and vise versa. He stepped in between Kenny and Marjorine and put a hand on Kenny's shoulder, "Kenny, I have to explain something to you."

Kenny's eyebrows furrowed as he looked down to his friend, questions dancing in his eyes.

Kyle took a deep breath, "Ok, where to begin…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I was very tempted to name the chapter 'I can't believe it's not Butters'.
> 
> Also, this is the last pre-written chapter, so it might take a little longer between posts. Just a forewarning.


	8. Remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have an excuse for this taking so long. Just know I feel super guilty and I'm sorry :(

From his sitting position on the bed, Kenny stared at Kyle in disbelief barely hearing the wild story that was coming out of his mouth. He heard words such as 'dissociation' and 'outrageous behavior', also something about flirting but he wasn't listening that intently. However, he understood the gist of it all; that Butters was not present at that time. His body was physically there, but his mind was not. Kenny didn't know if he should be surprised at all. This was a mental hospital, where all the crazies conglomerated. Butters wouldn't be any different and he doubted the kid was hiding some supernatural secret like he was.

Still, he couldn't help but feel a bit confused at it all. Kenny thought maybe it was due to Kyle's psychobabble explanation. He couldn't understand half of what he was saying when he started with all that book talk.

"Kenny, are you listening to me?"

Kenny blinked and looked away from the floor and towards Kyle, "Yeah, sure."

Kyle sighed, "So, you understand what's going on?" Kyle glanced to Butters, or rather Marjorine, who was pressed into the corner of the wall at the foot of the bed. He (she?) stared at Kenny warily, never taking her eyes from him.

Kenny stared right back. He had no idea why she was acting so oddly around him. He hadn't met her before this and she acted just fine around Kyle. Why was he so different?

"Yes, I understand perfectly." Kenny said in a light voice. He quickly turned back to Kyle and smirked at him. He hoped he was hiding his confusion, and slight disappointment, well.

"Ok, good. Do you think you'll be able to help?" Kyle asked.

Kenny furrowed his eyebrows, "Help? How the hell will I be able to do anything? Clearly he should go to his counselor."

Kyle fiddled with his fingers, "Well..."

"I don't want to go there!"

Kenny and Kyle both looked over toward Marjorine, startled she had spoken up.

Marjorine's eyes widened at the sudden attention and looked down sheepishly, "I don't...I don't want anyone to know I'm here. They'll just call Butters' parents and they'll demand to see him and I..." Her eyes started to tear up, making her eyes shine as they hadn't before.

"You what, Marjorine?" Kyle asked her gently. He took a hesitant step in her direction but he didn't move any further.

Marjorine didn't answer immediately as she sniffed and rubbed her eyes clean of any unshed tears. She took in a shaky breath and finally looked up to answer, "I don't want them to see me. Every time they do I only hurt them further."

"What do you mean?" Kenny asked.

"I'm only a reminder to them." Marjorine shook her head slightly and rubbed her arm, "It happened so long ago. I just wish they would forget about me."

"What-" Kyle started to voice his confusion, only to be...interrupted.

All three of them jump as the door to the room slammed open to show a flushed Cartman. Kenny squinted a bit, a little taken-aback at what he saw; were his eyes red too? Surely not.

"Hey, why did you all leave me in the hallway!?" Cartmans voice grated against Kenny's nerves. He always talked so loud, that big-mouthed asshole.

"Good of you to join us, fatass." Kyle's deadpanned expression showing off how excited he was to see him.

Cartman sneered at Kyle, "What are you guys doing in here? Why is Kenny out of his pen?"

"Well, aren't you the nosey-rosey." Kenny laughed.

Catman pointed menacingly at him, "Go fuck yourself, psycho!"

"Gladly. I'll be thinking of you while I'm at it." Kenny exaggerated a wink and smile at Cartman, who just gave him the finger.

"Can we please continue our conversation today?" Kyle interupted, "I would love to know how we're going to handle this." He said while vaguely gesturing toward Marjorine.

"What, handle her?" Cartman pointed at Marjorine, "Obviously, this needs to be reported. I don't even know why you, Mr. Always-Gotta-Follow-The-Rules," He says as he mockingly waves his hands in the air, "Are even asking about what to do with him."

"She doesn't want to be outed, Cartman. As much as I'd like to, I'd feel guilty about it." Kyle shrugged.

Cartman's jaw hung loose as his gaze traveled up in an I-can't-believe-what-I'm-fucking-hearing kind of expression, "She's not REAL!"

At this, Kenny looked over at Marjorine. Her body was slumped against the wall and her face was downcast. Her whole body just screamed 'DEPRESSION'. Kenny definitely felt bad for her, even if she was technically not real.

He pursed his lips and popped them open loudly, getting the attention of everyone in the room, "Why don't you guys," Kenny rose from the bed and started pushing Kyle toward Cartman, "Go talk about this somewhere else." Reaching for Cartman, he pushed them both out of the room, "I'll watch her. Goodbye!" As soon as they turned back around (presumably to yell at him) he slammed the door in their faces. Just to make sure they couldn't come back in, he turned the lock for good measure.

Once that was over, he brushed his hands clean and turned to Marjorine, who was still looking like she belonged in a Sarah Mclachlan commercial.

"In the arms of an angel..."

Marjorine startled and looked at Kenny, "What?"

"What?"

"What are you doing?" Her eyes darted toward the door a couple of times before settling upon Kenny. He honestly felt a bit like a predator at that moment.

Can't have that.

"I just want to help you." He jerked his thumb toward the door, "Those idiots are even bigger idiots when they're around each other. I had to get rid of them."

Marjorine narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

He put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and sighed. This wasn't going to work if she didn't trust him. Kenny didn't even know he'd done. He hadn't even met this personality before! He'd been nothing but nice to Butters (he'd thought so, at least) so it couldn't be that. What could be bothering her so much as to be scared shitless of him?

Apparently, he didn't even have to ask, "I saw you."

His gaze jumped to her, "What?"

"I saw what happened. On the roof."

On the roof? What is she...

Oh no.

She couldn't...remember.

Could she?

"I don't know what you're talking about." His entire body felt like it was on fire. His nerves were being eaten away and he couldn't think.

How could she remember? Nobody remembers. They all forget the next day. Nobody remembers how he's been mauled, sliced, diced, crushed, banged up. No one remembers the pain he's suffered and in all his years he's never met one person who did. Everyone moves on and he's had to hold all of his trauma inside because who would believe him anyway? Obviously no one believed him since he was locked up inside that hellhole.

Although, he's always wanted someone to believe him. Always wanted someone to remember. So...why was he denying it?

"Don't lie to me! I saw it all!" Marjorine spoke loudly and took a few steps forward, "You took Butters to the roof to run away, but then you got caught and you..." She paused, unable to say it. She then took a breath and continued, "You cut your throat with a box opener."

"It was an exacto-knife."

Marjorine shook her head, "Whatever. Point is, you killed yourself and now you're...here. You're not dead. What the fuck?"

It was a little weird hearing a cuss word come out of Butters' mouth.

"Fine. You caught me." He pulled his hands from his pockets and held them up, "I don't know what you expect to do with this information. No one will believe you anyway." He let hands swing down.

Marjorine furrowed her eyebrows and looked down. She looked to be contemplating something. She then took a few more steps away from the wall only to turn to sit on the bed. She sat like that for a few minutes while Kenny just looked around the room. He had no idea what she was thinking about. There wasn't really anything to think about. Like he said before, there wasn't anyone to tell so there wasn't anything to do. She can't threaten him with it or anything. It's not that big of a deal.

He might have been a bit more desensitized to dying and coming back to life than he realized.

"Did it hurt?"

Marjorine spoke so suddenly that it made Kenny jump a little, "What?"

Marjorine looked up and stared right into his eyes, which Kenny realized just then that she had avoided them slightly the entire time, "Did it hurt? When you cut your throat?"

This surprised Kenny. He hadn't realized she would have cared at all. He nodded, "Yeah, it always hurts."

She nodded as her eyes drifted away to nothing in particular.

Then, suddenly, she smirked.

"Good."

Kenny had to do a double take, "Excuse me?"

She slapped the bed as she stood up to face Kenny. Kenny wasn't sure how tall Butters was, but he sure as shit was much shorter than Kenny's 6'2.

She walked right up to him and poked him in the stomach (because that's what Butters could naturally reach), "You killed yourself in front of Butters!"

Kenny scoffed and pushed her hand away, "Yeah, and he doesn't remember shit does he?"

"No, but what if he does all of a sudden? You've just scarred him for life!" Her voice raised higher as her arms raised above her sides.

"Nobody remembers when I die! EV-ER! He's not special. He's not going to suddenly remember in some stupid magical fucking plot twist because this isn't a fucking fantasy book written by a lonely twenty-three year-old!"

"Then how did I remember?" Marjorine quips, her eyes narrowed slightly and her jaw set. She was ready to win this argument.

Kenny bends over her slightly, getting to her level, "Maybe you didn't and I'm fucking with you." He stands back straight and gives her a what-are-you-gonna-do pose; arms extended, hands up. Slowly, he backs towards the door. Once he's in front of it, he reaches behind him and grabs the knob, "This conversation is over." He declares as he unlocks the door.

Marjorine growls and looks the angriest he's ever seen on that pretty face. As soon as she takes a step toward him he turns the knob and quickly opens the door, exposing Cartman and Kyle straightening up from their spying positions. He pushes them out of the way and runs down the hall. Marjorine runs after him but stops after she gets half way down.

She takes a deep breath and screams, "STOP GASLIGHTING ME, YOU ASSHOLE!"

Kenny just laughs, and he keeps laughing even after he's turned the corner.

 

* * *

 

Kyle and Cartman watched as Marjorine growled and ran to kick the wall in anger, only to hurt herself and bend over in pain. Cartman snickered a little, but Kyle looked straight on wondering what happened in the few minutes they were left alone. They seemed to have gotten in a fight, which only confused Kyle because he thought Marjorine was afraid of Kenny. Cartman and Kyle both tried to listen through the door, but it was so disgustingly well-built and sound-proof that they didn't hear much of anything except muffled yelling voices. Now, it seems as though she's gotten over that fear in no time at all. What in the world did they talk about, or argue about rather?

Marjorine came stomping back over before he knew it. He tried to ask what the argument had been about but she just mumbled something about taking a nap.

"It's 4 O'clock in the afternoon." Cartman said.

"I don't care." She answered before shutting herself off from the rest of the world.

Kyle and Cartman both stood there for a while, confused. Well, Kyle was confused. He was pretty sure Cartman didn't really care.

"I'm hungry." Cartamn suddenly declared.

Kyle looked back at him and raised an eyebrow, "You're always hungry."

Cartman shook his head, "No, I'm not. I wasn't hungry before, but I am now."

Kyle shook his head back at him and rolled his eyes. Whatever. Kyle could use a break from all this drama,  "Fine, let's go." He grabbed Cartman's wrist and dragged him toward the cafeteria doors. Lunch was over by then but they could grab a snack or something to tide them over until dinner.

When they opened the doors to the cafeteria, they could see that the 'gang' had left and there weren't many people in there anymore, just a few chatting and having chips or something. It didn't take long for them to get through the line to get their snacks. Kyle had chosen a bag of dried fruit snacks and Cartman had gotten a couple of Twinkies and a box of Snow Caps. Kyle raised a questioning eyebrow at his uncharacteristically few choices.

"I'm cutting down." Cartman says, matter-of-factly.

Kyle scoffs, "Whatever. Want to watch a movie?"

Cartman ends up accepting, weirdly enough. Usually he would go off and do his own thing, but Kyle guessed he was bored enough to want to hang out with him.

When they get to Kyle's room, Cartman immediately goes in and makes himself at home by dumping his snacks on the bed in the middle of the room and jumping back on it. Cartman has always expressed how much he loves Kyle's bed. His parents had payed extra to have a queen sized bed placed into the room. He tried declining but his mother had been more than insistent that he should have it. "So you can sleep well," she had said.

Kyle put his bag on the dresser to the left of the door. He pushed the door so it was left slightly ajar. Walking over to the T.V. (which his parents had also got him) he asked, "What do you want to watch?" As he bent down to open the cupboard under the T.V. that held all of his movies.

Kyle heard a bag open, "I don't know. Put on something freaky." Which was Cartman speak for horror movie.

Not porn.

Not like Kyle had any of that.

Anymore.

"You know that's going to cause me to be up and down the entire night." Kyle accused, looking back at Cartman with a non-amused expression on his face.

Cartman smirked, "Yup. Put it on, pussy."

Kyle sighed and rolled his eyes but put on the movie anyway. Cartman knew horror movies triggered his sleepwalking episodes. He couldn't be blamed too much though because Kyle was wanting to watch the new movie his parents had sent him a while ago. It was a horror movie but he hadn't had the chance to watch it until now. Well, he didn't want to admit to himself that he didn't want to watch it alone, not that he was scared. He just didn't want to sleepwalk and having someone there to distract him seems to make it a bit better, even if that distraction was Cartman.

The movie turned out decent enough. It wasn't horror movie of the year, but it did have a few good scares. It even had Cartman in a few scenes. They ate all their snacks in the meantime and they still had a good few hours until dinner, so they just...talked. Kyle didn't think they knew the meaning of the word.

"When are you supposed to be leaving again, Jew?" Cartman asked. He picked at a nail to get a sprinkle from the Snow Caps out from under it.

"Next month, I think." Kyle answered as he played with the dried fruit bag. He folded it two ways before unfolding it and doing it again in a different way.

"So you completed your therapy and all of that?" Cartman turned his head toward him.

"Yeah. I mean, I still have stuff I have to do at home but I'm pretty much done with it."

Cartman looked at the bag that Kyle was playing with then back at him, "And..."

Kyle looked up at him, "And what?"

"And...you're alright with this?"

"What do you mean?"

Kyle crinkled the bag which made Cartman's eye twitch, so he reached over and grabbed it, "I mean," He threw the bag across the room and Kyle watched it land on the dresser, "Do you really think you're over it or is it just that your parents are rushing you through it?"

Kyle's mouth dropped open, "My parents aren't rushing me, Cartman."

"Oh, really? Then, by all means, please tell me why you were supposed to be here for a year and yet you're only leaving after five months."

Kyle stuttered, aghast at what Cartman was saying so much that he couldn't get any words out. How could Cartman think his parents were rushing him to complete his therapy? Sure, he was finishing a little early, but people leave early all the time. His case wasn't any different. His parents might have suggested it but he'd agreed, right?

"Cartman, any therapy I can get here I can get at home."

Cartman folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the headboard, "I bet that's what your parents said, wasn't it?"

Kyle took it upon himself to mock Cartman by taking the same pose but instead of looking at the other, he just looked straight ahead, "That's beside the point."

"It really isn't. You need to learn when to stick up for yourself against your parents. You do everything they say! You're almost twenty, for God's sake. You don't need to hold your mommy's hand anymore, and they need to realize that too."

Kyle just shook his head, still not looking at the other.

"You can shake your head at me all you want, but you know I'm right." Cartman sat up and loomed over Kyle, "I don't think they understand the severity of what you did."

Kyle looked up at him, daring him to continue. When he didn't say anything else, Kyle asked himself, "What exactly do you think I did, Eric?"

Cartman glared at him and leaned in closer and, Kyle swears was the first time in his life, whispers with minty-smelling breath, "You swallowed a whole bottle of pills." Kyle glares but before he could say anything Cartman continues to whisper, "Don't deny it because I heard Mackey talking about it with your parents. They found you in your room, passed the fuck out, with vomit spread out all over the bed." Cartman finally leans back away from Kyle.

Kyle just lays there, staring at Cartman with the same hard expression. Well, it's not like he was lying. He didn't like that Cartman knew, but somehow he couldn't be mad at him. Kyle, instead, just felt defeated. He also felt very tired and so very...done.

"That's why you weren't given a newbie tour, right? You were already here, on the third floor. That's why you just suddenly moved in. Am I right?"

Kyle sighed out an answer, "Yeah..."

"Then...what, after two and half months you came to the second floor. That doesn't seem a little fast to you?"

Kyle couldn't say anything. What could he say? That his parents (his mother, actually) had pushed the doctors, nurses, and counselor to move him to the second floor? That he hadn't argued with them, even though he was sacrificing his recovery time for fear of angering his mom? How pathetic would that sound? Pretty damn pathetic, if you asked Kyle. Knowing he would sound like a momma's boy, he chose not to say anything. He figured Cartman would figure it out anyway, so there was no point.

Cartman shook his head and looked away from the pouting Jew beside him. He leaned back against the headboard and interlaced his fingers across his belly. He could wait.

It took about fifteen minutes of waiting before Kyle said anything at all. At first, Cartman wasn't sure he had heard anything at all because he said it so quietly. He only spoke louder when Cartman asked him to 'speak the fuck up'.

"You're right." Kyle said louder in such a broken tone that even Cartman felt sorry for him.

Cartman sighed and said, "Yeah, I know."

 

* * *

 

He felt light. It was like he was weightless, just floating through the air like the dust you can see in a beam of light that shines through the opening in a curtain. Always moving, never sitting still for even a moment. He had no thoughts as he couldn't think. Well, he couldn't think about anything in-depth. He couldn't remember if he ever could.

It was so nice there in the Black. That's what he called it, the space in which he resided. The Black was all he could see. There was no break in the space that he could find. He searched for...a while. He wasn't sure how long as there wasn't any sense of time passing. What was time, even? He felt like that was an important question, but he couldn't dwell on it for long. Not that he didn't want to, he just couldn't. That's what the Black did to you. It made you forget so you can float some more. That was all you did.

He soon felt restless though. What was this feeling? He wanted to move. He looked around in the endless Black, but he couldn't see anywhere to go. Soon, he picked a random direction to move. He couldn't see if he was going anywhere but he felt it. He felt as though he was swimming with his eyes closed. What was swimming? How did he know this word and what it meant?

Suddenly, he could see something...different. Something much lighter than the Black. He'd never seen anything like it. It was so beautiful! He had to move toward it and maybe touch it. Wait, touch? How did he know what that meant? Why are so many new words beginning to surface in his mind? As the lighter Black grew closer, he remembered what it was.

White.

He moved faster now, desperate to get to this White. Newer words came to his mind, along with pictures. He could see pictures moving across his mind's eye. He saw flashes of colors and shapes. Names and...faces. His mother, father, Kyle, Cartman, Mr. Mackey, Stan...

Kenny.

Kenny was the easiest to see. He always had an orange hoodie and it was very recognizable. What were these pictures coming to his mind?

Memories.

Suddenly, a memory flashes across but it was very quick. He recognized Kenny, with his bright orange hoodie. His shape was very tall. There was another flash of a memory, but in that one the orange was doused with red.

He was...confused.

Feelings.

He was also...scared.

Scared because he realized the red was blood. That couldn't be right. As soon as the memory came, though, it left just as quickly. He was left feeling blank in that area.

He was also scared to go to the White. Some part of him wanted to go back to the Black. He wanted to go back and forget again. All of this was very overwhelming, but he knew he had to go to the White. He had be...brave.

He wanted to see Kenny and his friends again. His parents, even though they scared him too.

So, he went. He entered the White.

Then he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which nothing gets accomplished because they're all USELESS.


End file.
